Defence Accounts Department, one of the oldest Departments under Government of India, is going to celebrate its annual day on Tuesday. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will be Chief Guest at the celebrations, which will take place at Manekshaw Centre in Delhi Cantt, the statement said.
The event will also witness distribution of Raksha Mantri Excellence Awards for employees of the department showing exemplary performance standards.
Defence Accounts Department celebrates its annual day on October 1 every year to mark its rich history and commit itself to the service of Government of India and its Defence Forces. It traces its origin to the year 1750, when the first Military Pay Master was appointed for Garrison at Fort Williams, Kolkata.
The department is responsible for _financial advice, payments, accounting and internal audit of the Army, Navy, Air Force and other Defence related organisations, such as DRDO, Ordnance Factories, Border Roads, Coast Guard and the Canteen Stores Department and other departments under Ministry of Defence. The department has presence across the length and breadth of the country through its more than 1,100 offices at 250 locations, the statement said.
The department is responsible, minter-alia, for payment of salary and allowances to more than 14 lakh defence forces and 3.5 lakh defence civilians. It also maintains pension accounts of about 32 lakh defence pensioners and provident fund accounts of 16 lakh subscribers. It also processes about 24 lakhs personal claims, 18 lakhs third party claim and 3.1 lakh financial advice cases. The department handles more than Rs. four lakh crore of defence budget including MoD (Civil) and pension budget, annually, it said.
The department has increased its participation in the financial decision-making process with continually expanding the role of Integrated Financial Advisors at field formations too.
