Chapter 8 - Indian Defense Accounts Service (IDAS) | A Bouquet of Services by IPS Lohit Matani and IPS Vishal - UPSC PDF Download

Indian Defense Accounts Service (IDAS)

Contributor: Mr. Gugale Dhiraj Dharmachand, IDAS 2015 Batch

8.1 Cadre Structure and Overview

IDAS Officers provide leadership to the Defense Accounts Department (DAD). IDAS is a professional service, which takes pride in calling itself a body of “Defense Finance and Economics Professionals”. DAD traces its origin to the Military Finance Department, which is one of the oldest departments of the Government of India. Headed by the Controller General of Defense Accounts, the Department is mandated to provide financial advice, payment, accounting and internal audit functions in respect of Army, Navy, Air Force, Ordnance Factories, DRDO, Border Roads Department, Canteen Stores Department, and other allied organizations.

The Department has the crucial responsibility of guaranteeing financial propriety, probity and integrity in all transactions. The increase in defense outlays necessitates them to be abreast with latest techniques in financial management and deliver sound financial advice in a timely and efficient manner.

8.2 Roles and Responsibilities

The normal job profile of an IDAS officer includes the following:

I. In the Office of Controller General of Defense Accounts (CGDA)

1. IDAS Officers advice the Ministry of Defense on issues relating to Accounts, Audit and changes in Systems/ Procedures of financial transactions.
2. They do rendition of Annual Audit Certificate (AAD) after conducting annual audit of different departments of the defense services.
3. They furnish necessary information for making the Appropriation Accounts (account delineating the expenditure to be made from the   defense budget) to the Ministry of Defense.
4. Officers lead teams preparing the Annual Consolidated Accounts of Defense Services Receipts and Charges.
5. They occupy the position of Principal Accounts Officer for Civil Estimates of the Ministry of Defense.
6. They conduct internal audit to the Services responsible for audit of sanctions and orders issued by authorities lower than the Government of India.
7. They lead Subordinate Audit Office to the C&AG which sample checks the Internal Audit done by the DAD.
8. Officers lead audits of all expenditures against sanctions pertaining to Stores, Works, TA/DA, etc, audits of the Production Accounts of Ordnance Factories, Military Farms, Dockyards, etc.
9. They ensure timely, efficient and correct payments of Pay and Allowances, Pension and Gratuities and other payments relating to supplies and services. They ensure proper accounting of all such expenditure from the Defense Budget.

II. CDA/PCDA office (Controller/ Principal Controller of Defense Accounts)

1. Officers are responsible for supervision of sectional work in the CDA office with work ranging from office administration, payment of store/ miscellaneous bills of defense forces/organizations associated with respective CDAs, financial scrutiny of engineering contracts, accounting of related defense expenditure, pay disbursement of defense civilians, integrated financial adviser for local units associated with the CDA, internal audit of associated defense units etc.
2. They hold independent charges of various pay and accounts offices under the main CDA office.

III.   Financial Adviser Role:

Under the IFA (Integrated Financial Advisor) system, IDAS officer may serve in the dedicated IFA office established for different defense services and perform the role of effective management of defense expenditure in compliance with financial regulations. When DAD performs the role of a financial adviser, IDAS officers are involved in rendering financial advice and according concurrence to all procurement of Defense Stores and post contract management.

IV. UN Peacekeeping Missions:

IDAS Officers in DAD work with UN Headquarters in respect of deployment of Indian Contingents on various UN Peacekeeping Missions abroad. Officers are always part of the MOD delegation to the UNO to sign MOUs and to participate in group meetings of the UNO on peacekeeping. Apart from it, IDAS Officers are always sent to the UN Peace Keeping operations as part and parcel of the Indian Contingents.

V.  Pension Sanction and Disbursement:

IDAS Officers are responsible for sanctioning all the pension awards of all the armed services. Officers are instrumental in accounting and auditing of pensions online.

VI. Regional Training Centers

IDAS offices at the CDA level may be appointed as head of regional training centers located in various zones of the country. Their role is supervision of departmental training, probationary officers training, training module for armed forces and smooth running of the training centers.

VII. Pension Office

All the computation and disbursement of the pension benefits of the defense forces is performed by the defense account department with its controlling pension office at Allahabad and Meerut and various Defense pension distribution offices all over the country.

VIII. Ordinance Factories (Controller of Financial Accounts)

IDAS officers along with subordinate accounts officers are also posted at ordinance factories for financial accounting, budget management and financial advice.

IX  . Central Ministries

IDAS officers work on deputation in Ministry of Defense (Finance) as financial managers/ advisors to capital expenditure of defense forces and aid the defense ministry in taking proper decisions in accordance with the financial regulations in force.

IDAS officers also work on deputation to various other central ministries/ Public sector undertakings generally starting at the level of Director & above.

8.3 Normal Growth Profile

We will be discussing about the various career opportunities an IDAS Officer has in a separate topic. However, this topic only deals with various positions an IDAS Officer holds during his professional life. These positions are held when he/ she is working in his/ her main line departments.

8.4 Recruitment

The recruitment into IDAS happens through two channels in the ration of 67:33 as mentioned below:

i. Direct Recruitment: People are inducted into IDAS after qualifying in the Civil Services Exam conducted by UPSC.

ii. Promotion: The Group B Accounts Officers (who are initially Recruited as Auditors through SSC Exams and subsequently qualified in Departmental exams to become Assistant Account Officers and then promoted to Accounts officers and which normally takes around 20 years) are promoted to the IDAS grade generally after serving 5 years of service as Accounts officers.

8.5 Training for Direct Recruits:

The training starts with the foundation course conducted in Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of   Administration (LBSNNA) along with other Central/ All India Services. This is followed by Departmental Training which begins with 1 to 2 weeks induction course at National Academy of Defense Financial Management (NADFM), Pune, followed by 6 month Professional Training Course on public financial management with 2 weeks international attachment at National Institute of Financial Management, Faridabad (NIFM) which ultimately is followed by 8-9 months Defense Financial Management course at NADFM, Pune. After successful completion of probation period of two years and passing of departmental examination conducted at NADFM, the probationary officers are confirmed into Junior Time Scale (JTS) Grade of IDAS. 

8.6 Variety of Opportunities for IDAS Officers

Apart from the cadre posts, officers of IDAS also serve in the following organizations:

The significant contributions made by IDAS officers while on deputation have resulted in a constant demand for the cadre from Central and State Governments. Ministries/ Departments under the Government of India such as banking, economic affairs, petroleum, commerce, agriculture, telecom, urban development, power, etc. have been enriched by the contribution of IDAS officers.

8.7 Perks, Privileges and Advantages for IDAS Officers

Following are the privileges and opportunities for Indian Defense Accounts Service officers in the present day environment:

1. IDAS Officers have plethora of exposure to Defense Finance which is unique in various aspects.
2. They enjoy timely promotions. As per ongoing trend, SAG level is attained at 18 to 19 years of regular service.
3. It is a knowledge oriented service. Officers are valued in the bureaucracy for their multi-faceted experience and expertise in the area of financial advice, accounting and internal audit.
4. It generally allows an optimal work life balance.
5. It allows some exposure to international assignment at Deputy CDA level as paymaster of UN Peacekeeping Mission.

8.8 Occupational Hazards and Challenges

Owing to departmental nature of service it may result sometimes into feeling of absence of public service and associated charisma with it. There are normal prejudices with the executive of the defense services/ organization on domain of mandate as happens generally with any other financial service. Moreover there is a feeling among the officers that they perform a support function and are not an executive authority.

8.9 Case Studies indicating the work life of an IDAS Officer

8.9.1 Economy in Procurement of Communication/ Security Equipments

A proposal for procurement of security/communication equipment (consisting of 4 different items) at the estimated cost of Rs. 18,02,718/- was made. The purpose of procurement of security/ communication equipment is to meet the challenges with fast changing security scenario by providing speedy communication to all concerned in case of security threat. Mr. Suresh Raja was posted as Financial Adviser in the Defense Ministry to approve this proposal. He was a keen observer and a learned accountant. He was known to save government money in all the procurement deals.

He analyzed the proposal keeping in view the security aspects and the purported security threats from anti national elements. The case for procurement of Communication Equipment at an estimated expenditure of Rs. 17,26,994/- was initiated for procurement. On initial tender, response was received from only 2 firms. Out of which only one firm was found to be technically qualified. This was considered as a very poor response. Mr. Suresh was in a difficult situation as this would lead to monopoly of a firm and higher cost to the government.

Pointing the said facts and limitation of competition he suggested for re-tendering the case by reviewing the specifications to facilitate wider and adequate competition. Accordingly, tender was floated and 3 new firms applied for it. Subsequent to opening of price bids the cost of Rs. 11,58,905/-  quoted by M/s ICONET services, Chennai was found to be lowest and hence accepted. Thus, due to advice at each stage of tendering and procurement procedure, Mr. Suresh could achieve a net savings of Rs. 5,68,089/-.

Q. According to the work profile of an IDAS officer and the case above, what are the challenges involved while procuring important equipment’s for the defense forces? Is it right to compromise with the specifications in order to infuse competition in the tendering process? How would have you behaved in this situation?

8.9.2 Implementation of One Rank One Pension (OROP) Scheme

One Rank One Pension (OROP), or "same pension, for same rank, for same length of service, irrespective of the date of retirement", is a longstanding demand of the Indian armed forces and veterans. The implementation of OROP scheme required changes in pension of more than 25 lakh pensioners, with many different ranks and years in service, suddenly to be changed as per the new schemes especially when the country  still have pensioners ranging from army men from British times to those who joint in 21st century.

The issues involved in this OROP movement were not pension related alone. The issues were of justice, equity, honor, and national security. The failure to address the issue of pay-pension equity, and the underlying issue of honor, was not only an important cause for the OROP protest movement, but its escalation.

Doing the task in a time bound manner in an extremely sensitive political environment was a challenge in itself. It was a major challenge for the officers of IDAS. It was solved by creating many pay matrix for many different criteria in army pension structure, using latest record management practices. It also involved strenuous training of the staff on war footing to complete documents as per new requirements.

This was done fully by PCDA PENSION, Allahabad under direct supervision from Ministry of Defense and the PMO.

Q. What was the necessity for implementing the OROP Scheme? What were the challenges faced in their implementation? Will this scheme increase accountability in the disbursement of pensions to the retired defense personnel?

8.9.3 Tackling Corruption in Procurement

Proposal for Provisioning of Ni-Cad Battery for MIG Variants for one line (650 Nos of Battery) for an amount of Rs. 5,52,50,000/- was submitted to IFA Head Quarter Marine Corps for approval. Mr. Satendra Dubey was posted there as a young Deputy IFA. The file came to him for his perusal and recommendation.

Satendra examined the case and came to knew that there was a phase out plan in offering in case of Mig-21. In view of this phase out plan the quantity of 650 numbers was considered high and needed re-examination. According to Satendra, only 400 batteries were enough. This would help in saving Rs.2,12,50,000. He gave his suggestion on the file and forwarded to the IFA. However, he got a phone call from IFA to change his suggestion and approve the report without any suggestion. It seemed to Satyendra that IFA was personally interested in this deal and did not wanted any opposite remarks on the file.

Satyendra also got an offer of Rs. 10,00,000 from a private firm to not give any suggestion on the file.

Q. What are the ethical issues and challenges faced by Satendra in this situation? How would you react in this situation? What would be your course of action in it to save crucial public money?