Chapter 12 - Indian Civil Accounts Service (ICAS) | A Bouquet of Services by IPS Lohit Matani and IPS Vishal - UPSC PDF Download

The officers of ICAS have been involved with budget process, cash management, treasury operations, internal audit and setting up of information management systems in post-conflict and developing countries.

12.7 Perks and Privileges for ICAS Officers

ICAS officers enjoy the following advantages in their work profile:

1. Education : Officers have opportunities to purse higher studies in the fields of finance and accounting
2. International exposure : Officers get sufficient work opportunities in international organizations in institutions mentioned above. These opportunities are higher in developing countries of Africa and Asia.
3. Stability : ICAS officers are based in Delhi throughout their careers either in the Civil Ministries or in the CGA Office, with the exception of certain posts viz. in the D/o Space (Bangalore), D/o Atomic Energy (Mumbai), including Zonal Offices of CBDT, Zonal offices of CBEC, etc. or on deputation to state government departments. This allows for stable family life. (Currently a cadre restructuring for PFMS implementation is underway which will create more posts at JAG level in every state).
4. Exposure to working of different ministries: Over their career span, ICAS officers get to work in various ministries. This provides an opportunity to contribute in a multitude of sectors of governance. They also get a chance to interact and network with officers of various other services posted in the ministry.
5. After the introduction of Public Financial Management System (PFMS), all the data is at the disposal of ICAS officers. So Data Analysis and Internal Audit seem to be the future of ICAS.
6. The service provides great opportunities to attain specialization in fields of finance, accounting, budget management and data analysis.
7. Work-Life balance: Work hours are largely regular. This allows for stable family life and ample time to pursue other interests and hobbies. This makes it a very employee-friendly service.

12.8 Occupational Hazards

The officers in ICAS suffer from fewer facilities of a car and home, especially during the first 6-7 years of service. The provision of these facilities is completely at the discretion of the seniors and does not have any institutional mechanism. The service is individual oriented wherein officers have to think individually and progress individually. This rising individualism makes the service weak and individual strong. This also creates an atmosphere of pessimism in the service. The service mostly includes office job, which sometimes turn out to be monotonous. The nature of work and postings depend a lot on the ministries one is posted to and the seniors under whom he/ she is supposed to work. The nature of work can range from being very enriched and challenging to being completely non-functional.

The role of an ICAS officer is of managerial nature, involving interaction mostly within the ministries. There isn’t much scope for public interaction. Moreover, being a Delhi-based service obtaining government accommodation may be difficult at least in the initial years. Those expecting a car adorned with a red beacon will also be disappointed, as entitlement is only at the SAG level. These factors add to the cost of living in NCR.

12.9 Case Studies indicating the work, challenges and ethical dilemmas faced by an ICAS Officer

12.9.1 Punishment for maintaining financial propriety

Ms. Supra Ranjan was an upright civil servant. After joining ICAS, she was posted as Asst. Controller of Accounts in the Ministry of Urban Development. She understood that the money in the Consolidated Fund of India is the money of the people of India and must be used sparingly. She was very strict in passing the bills of the officers posted in the Ministry and did not allow any malpractices. She was known for her integrity. She also did not allow her subordinates to indulge in any malpractices like accepting monetary favors for passing any bill. In her tenure, all the corrupt practices of the account department were eradicated and the work became swift as well as transparent.

One day, an Additional Secretary level officer applied for the reimbursement of his Leave Travel Concession (LTC) bill. The subordinate staff approved all the travel claims and forwarded them to Supra. While going through the claims, Supra saw the officer has applied for the reimbursement of taxi bills also. However, according to the rules of the Central Ministry, LTC does not allow for travel using private taxi. Thus, Supra rejected the reimbursement of private taxi bills.

The Additional Secretary officer got infuriated due to this action and complained to the Controller General of Accounts (CGA). CGA first advised Supra but then shifted her out from the Ministry and sent her to another posting.

Q. Was it right on the part of Supra to reject LTC claim on such minor aberrations? Do you think she was right in blocking the LTC claim of the officer? How should she react on her transfer orders and how should she cope up with the situation? Analyzing the ethical dilemmas involved, suggest a strategy you would adopt in this situation.

12.9.2 RahatLekha: Accounting Aid to Disaster Management

On the face of it, the functions of payment and accounting seem rather disconnected with, if not altogether lacking, any social facet. To think that an accounting innovation could combine IT tools with specialized knowledge of accounts and a humane outlook seems rather odd. But this amalgamation is what best describes RahatLekha, an accounting aid for providing relief for the victims of one of India’s biggest man-made disasters- the unfortunate Bhopal Gas Tragedy.

In June 2010, with the Union Government announcing an ex-gratia payment of Rs. 740 Crore for the victims and their heirs, the Pay and Accounts Office-Bhopal Gas Victims (PAO-BGV) swung into action to ensure hassle free disbursement of this compensation- that the right amount reaches the right people, at the right time.

Till now the original compensations were being disbursed under the Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster Act, 1985, based on a process of adjudication under the Office of Welfare Commissioner. Unfortunately, this process suffered from certain systemic weaknesses, which had given rise to touts and middlemen fleecing the victims and corrupt officials shirking their responsibilities. So, even as the government was discharging its duty, the real benefits seldom reached the intended beneficiary and the disaster had become a business opportunity for the unscrupulous elements.

In this backdrop, it became imperative that before embarking on its function of ex-gratia disbursal, the PAO-BGV tackle its foremost challenge- to streamline payments. This required PAO-BGV to go beyond its duty to simply pass compensation orders and award the amounts. Despite manpower and infrastructure limitations, it worked towards providing inclusive solutions to all activities- right from the generation of sanction in the tribunals, preparation of bill, pre-check and generation of list of payees in PAO for transfer of the share of Ex-Gratia to the bank accounts of the victim / claimants.

The PAO started with creating a master database of each and every case. For this it undertook the following steps in order to streamline the system:

1. Database creation, capturing details of each of the 5 lakh plus victims, their family members, their bank details, details of previous relief, etc., and allotting a Unique ID to make the data user-friendly.
2. Digitization of close to 3 lakh pages of award letters, details of the 20 lakh cheques issued over a period of two decades and the list of payments done in the past.
3. Development of the ‘RahatLekha’ Software with provision for digitizing the tasks of the tribunals, the PAO and enable e-transfers to the accounts of beneficiaries, instead of issuing of individual cheques which had become prone to misuse, and follow up fund transfer to ensure propriety.

This task was not easy, not only for the sheer volume of work and non-availability of records, files and data, but also because it required that the different stakeholders- the judiciary, the administration, and the banking systems to be on-board. Nonetheless, the civil accounts organization managed to accomplish all this, and by December 2010, ex-gratia disbursement had begun.

This is one of the instances where accounting directly impacted the lives of the people, ensuring accountability to them. The RahatLekha system went on to prove that a government system can provide prompt and pro-active service to the society. It has also proved that a well-designed system can ensure corruption-free work- as evidence from the absence of any complaints of delayed, wrong or fraudulent payments.

Q. What were the corruption opportunities present in the earlier system and how were they removed in the new system of RahatLekha?

Q. Discretion without accountability is the origin of corruption. Discuss this statement in the light of the above case study. Explain how discretion was removed in the ‘RahatLekha’ project.

12.9.3 Public Financial Management System (erst. CPSMS)

When reflecting upon the state of affairs of governance in India, one anomaly strikes every concerned citizen- why is it that even as government expenditure has reached the size of lakhs of crores of Rupees per annum, problems like unemployment, poor health, sub-standard education, inadequate infrastructure, corruption, fund leakage, etc. continue to persist. Why is the proverbial ‘bang for the buck’ eluding us?

For a group of concerned ICAS officers, a query to this effect was all it took for the idea of a state-of-the-art public financial management tool- the PFMS (Public Financial Management System)- to be borne. It came to be envisaged as a digital tool for the tracking of funds right up to the last beneficiary, which would function on a real-time basis, and facilitate just-in-time release of funds from the centre. Such a platform would provide inputs for informed budgeting and invaluable MIS for policy making.  At a broader level, this would safeguard transparency and accountability in government expenditure- the very hallmarks of good governance!

At the outset, the issues were manifold, and expenditure information was highly unreliable:

1. There was no centralized information on releases by various central ministries. Moreover, they were unable to ensure correctness of the data and facts reported by the State Governments.
2. The lack of uniform coding for plan schemes between the Centre and the States made it difficult to trace releases under a particular scheme from the Centre to the ultimate user as it flows through the state budget system.
3. The emphasis by State Governments was more on release of assistance by the central ministries rather than ensuring the quality and propriety of expenditure and attainment of the objectives.
4. Since the funds are usually not spent fully by the implementing agencies (IAs) in the same financial year, there remains substantial amount of unspent funds in their bank accounts. This unspent balance with the IAs constitutes the ‘float’. The carrying cost of this float is substantial, especially in a country like ours where the government incurs heavy borrowings in order to spend.
5. Actual expenditure incurred in the field cannot be tracked online and is only known on the basis of ‘utilization certificates’ which take a great deal of time before they are submitted.
6. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation of delivery was often missing. Funds are released mechanically without reference to capacity of State Governments or effective utilization of funds released earlier.

To overcome these, a mammoth initiative is being undertaken. It involves bringing together lakhs of sub-national, local implementing agencies, individual beneficiaries and bank branches that have till now, not been amenable to a central monitoring system. This required creating a database of all recipient agencies, integration with core banking solution of banks handling plan funds, integration with State Treasuries, bringing the recipient bodies onboard and providing them with hand-holding.

The potential of this tool has been appreciated by the highest echelon of the government and PFMS implementation is being undertaken on a war footing. Going forward, the information on fund utilization could also be placed in the public domain for greater public awareness, public participation in the policy making and execution and towards enhanced transparency in Government operations. Thus, PFMS holds the potential to even act as a social audit tool.

Q. How could PFMS act as a corruption reduction and a social audit tool? How will it enhance values like accountability and responsibility within the government departments? How will it lead to ‘Maximum Governance and Minimum Government’?