commissioners and that out of the 4, one should be in charge of Finance and the organization ..." With these recommendations not only was the segregation of Railway Finance clearly established, but the office of the Financial Commissioner was envisaged in an embryonic manner, and accordingly, the first Financial Commissioner was appointed on 1 April 1923. The necessity of such an appointment was thus emphasized by the Acworth Committee, The large financial responsibility of the department being perhaps sufficient justification in itself for the addition to the organization of a member competent to advise on the questions of great financial magnitude. The need for a new service was reinforced by yet another recommendation of the Acworth Committee which was with regard to the Railway Department having its own accounting staff and being responsible for its accounts, subject to an independent audit by the Auditor General of India. With the post of Financial Commissioner firmly in place, the requirement for an organisational set up with staff became imminent, and the ground was clearly laid for the growth of a new service which would henceforth meet the burgeoning needs of the increasingly autonomous finance department of Indian Railways. Consequently, it was just a matter of time before new service would gently disengage itself from the shackles of the Indian Audit and Accounts Service and the embryonic growth of a new service would announce itself. The process was now set in motion and in the late 1920s, the Government of India decided to form a new Class I central service, viz IRAS, which would occupy top ranks of the Railway Accounts Department gradually replacing Indian Audit and Accounts Service officers. Accordingly, from 1 April 1929, the responsibility for the compilation of accounts for the Railways was taken over by the Financial Commissioner, Railways from the Auditor General. The Accounts organisation was thus brought under the control of the Financial Commissioner, Railways, and the Indian Railway Accounts Service was constituted simultaneously. However, every process of birth has its hiccups, though technically it was intended that from 1929, recruitment should be for the new IRAS service, procedural formalities delayed this recruitment and so 2 officers of 1929 batch who were recruited for the Indian Audit and Accounts Service were "permanently seconded" to the IRAS. Accordingly, for the first time two officers, Mr Apjit Singh & Mr N C Deb joined the service. It was only