Telecom accounts & finance service writes to PM, repeats call for merger of audit services

 The audit services of India have been seeking a merger to bolster efficiency, as well as to tackle what they describe as IAS hegemony over top posts.

New Delhi: Officers of the Indian Post & Telecom Accounts and Finance Service (IP&TAFS) have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking a single accounts and finance service or “One Nation, One Accounts & Finance Service”. 

In a letter addressed to PM Modi, the NITI Aayog, and the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), among others, the Association of the IP&TAFS has asked for the merger of five audit services, namely, the Indian Civil Accounts Service (ICAS), the IP&TAFS, the Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IAAS), the Indian Defence Accounts Service (IDAS), and the Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS). 

They have said a merger of these services will streamline the auditing processes in the country, and allow for wider adoption of each of their best practices. 

The letter also cites the Modi government’s 2019 decision to merge eight railway services into a common Indian Railway Managerial Service (IRMS). Officers of the IP&TAFS told ThePrint separately that the merger had helped firm up their decision to push for their demand.

Sent last week, the letter has been accessed by ThePrint.

“We request your good office to consider the merger of various organised accounts services in Government of India and either merge all of them with the Indian Audit Accounts Service (IA&AS) as per recommendation (of the 6th Pay Commission) or create new Indian Accounts & Finance Service (IAFS) by merging all various organised accounts services except IA&AS,” the letter states. 

Speaking to ThePrint, Kashi Nath Jha, former general secretary of the association, said all the “audit services are doing more or less the same work… There is no rationale to have them as separate services”.