FEBRUARY 1, 2011

Need for reduction of paperwork by Government Departments

By S B Parikh

IN U.S.A., the Paper Reduction Act exists since 1980. U.S. information policies intend to reduce the total amount of paperwork handled by the Government and the general public. The Paper Reduction Act mandates that all federal government agencies must obtain a Control Number from the Office of Management and Budget before promulgating a Form that will impose an information collection burden on general public. Once obtained, approval must be renewed every three years. In order to obtain or renew such approval, an agency must explain the reason why the Form is needed and estimate the burden in terms of time and money that the Form will impose upon the persons required to fill it out. (Source: Wikipedia)

Now, coming to the working of Customs & Central Excise Department (including Service Tax), no doubt the software applications/systems like EDI and ACES provide much reduction in paper work for various stakeholders. However, till date the role of EDI system and ACES is restricted in some areas only. Still the internal work of this Department mainly runs on paper. Though majority of employees work on computers, but every computers are isolated and not connected by any Software and Network that can be used for internal work of department unlike banks. Reports of Divisional offices and Head offices are compiled by officers (not by System) on the basis of the paper reports of lower formations. Employees are using software applications like Microsoft Word and Excel to compile and prepare numerous reports and to make correspondence within as well as outside the department. After preparation of reports or letters, printouts of the same are being taken out. Higher officers make manual changes/corrections in the drafts. Again fair printouts are being obtained. Thus, the department heavily relies upon Printers, Photocopiers and Papers. Due to this system, large quantity of paper and ink/toner is being used.

An Expert Group was constituted (about 6-7 years ago) for streamlining and reduction in number of reports being called/submitted by various offices functioning under CBEC. The group was headed by the Commissioner, Directorate of Data Management, CBEC. The said Group brought down the number of reports being sent by the field formations from around 130 to just 7 major reports. The recommendations of the said Group was accepted and it was decided to have only 7 reports (like Monthly Revenue Report, Monthly Technical Report, etc.) and all other reports were discontinued (on paper but not practically). However, during passage of time, numerous other reports have also been prescribed. Presently, the field formations are sending number of reports including daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly and quarterly reports. In addition, Adhoc reports have also been called for from time to time. About 1/3 rd time of the department is being spent in work related to circulation and compilation of reports .

In this era of computerization, a software covering all the needs of internal working of department can be developed. If such software comes in existence and can be used in all the offices, every employees can have their own login Id, password and menu, in which they can work. Depending upon designation and posting of the officers, their accessibility and function in the System (i.e. departmental software) can be determined. On the basis of the reports of lower formations, reports of higher formations can be automatically generated (not prepared) through the System and can be viewed online by all authorized officers. This can save a lot of man-hours and paper. If such suitable software for internal working and report generation will be developed, almost 35% of the officers, which are presently engaged in compilation of reports, can be spared and they can be better utilised in sensitive and important areas like Audit, Intelligence, Examination and Appraising. Further, the employees can get rid from the manual Registers and bunches of paper files. All the information would be easily and promptly accessible and can be accurately used. Full computerization of department will also satisfy the obligations for providing suo motu dissemination of information to public, as perceived under Section 4 of the Right to Information Act, 2005.

Till the time such computerization for internal functioning of department, I suggest that a provision may be made in the forthcoming Finance Act, which requires mandatory approval from a centralized office (like Office of Management and Budget of USA) before calling any information/report either from the public or within the department. For getting such approval, the information/report seeking authority must submit the estimated burden in terms of time and money that would be required for getting the information/report. Such approval and renewal may be granted considering the total man-hours available and the man-hours being used in different activities of the department.

After reading the above, many readers would feel no legal provision is required for implementation of these suggestions. Though, it is true, but due to failure in implementation of recommendations of the Expert Group for reduction of reports, I suggest for a statutory provision.

(The views expressed are personal)