s 18 Surcharge
If it appears to the appropriate Service Commission, after consultation with the financial authority, that any person who is or was in the employment of the Federal Government or the Government of a State— (a) has failed to collect any moneys owing to the Federal Government or the Government of the State for the collection of which he is or was responsible; (b) is or was responsible for any improper payment of public moneys of the Federal Government or the Government of the State or for any payment of public moneys which is not duly vouched; (c) is or was responsible for any deficiency in, or for the destruction of, any public moneys, stamps, securities, stores, or other property of the Federal Government or the Government of the State; (d) being or having been an accounting officer, fails or has failed to keep proper accounts or records; or (e) has failed to make any payment, or is or was responsible for any delay in the payment, of public moneys of the Federal Government or the Government of the State to any person to whom such payment is due under any law or under any contract, agreement or arrangement entered into between that person and the Federal Government or the Government of the State, and if a satisfactory explanation is not, within a period specified by the Commission, furnished to the Commission with regard to the failure to collect, improper payment, payment not duly vouched, deficiency or destruction, or failure to keep proper accounts or records, or failure to make payment, or delay in making payment, the Commission may surcharge against the said person a sum not exceeding the amount of any such amount not collected, such payment, deficiency, or loss or the value of the property destroyed, as the case may be; and with regard to the failure to keep proper accounts or records, or the failure to make payment, or the delay in making payment, the Commission may surcharge against the said person such sum as the Commission may think fit.