An internal note of the CAG office wanted the audit to be expedited
An internal note of the Comptroller and Auditor-General's office suggests that Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi tried to pressure CAG into completing its audit of 2G spectrum allocation quickly to enable the PAC to begin looking at it.
In a note dated July 13, 2010 — well before the CAG's report on the 2G matter was tabled in Parliament — R.B. Sinha, then Director General (RC) wrote to Deputy CAG Rekha Gupta to say he had received a call on his “mobile” from Mr. Joshi at 11.30 that morning. He had told him since his office was working on recent developments in the telecom sector, he would like to be briefed by the CAG's office on the status of its audit on spectrum allocation. It was Mr. Joshi's personal secretary who had called and then Mr. Joshi came on the line, he wrote.
Pressure on Joshi
Mr. Sinha records Mr. Joshi told him “there was tremendous pressure on him [Joshi] from parliamentarians, media etc. about the examination being done by the Public Accounts Committee in respect of recent developments in Telecom sector, including allocation of 2G and 3G spectrum and that if the probe is further delayed, the Executive would get time to cover up the issue …”
Mr. Sinha's note added Mr. Joshi wanted the CAG office to brief him on the status of its own audit work before the scheduled PAC meeting of July 15/16, 2010. “I told him this matter would have to be taken up by the C & AG of India,” Mr. Sinha concluded.
While Mr. Joshi refused to take calls fromThe Hinduand his private secretary P. K. Jain said: “Doctor sahib [Joshi] will react to this tomorrow [Wednesday],” the Congress jumped to suggest the PAC Chairman had tried to influence the CAG's office.
Digvijay's tweet
“Was the figure [of presumptive loss in allotment of 2G spectrum] inflated? Was it made in haste? Was this at the behest of Chairman of PAC?” Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh tweeted.
He suggested it was totally inappropriate for Mr. Joshi to have contacted the CAG before his report was tabled in Parliament and wondered if the CAG had an agenda, after all, a former CAG T.N. Chaturvedi had gone over to the Bharatiya Janata Party after submitting his report on Bofors.
Keywords: 2G spectrum scam, JPC probe, CAG audit report, Vinod Rai deposition, 2G loss estimate, PAC, Murli Manohar Joshi
How could Dr.Joshi, either as the Chairman of the PAC or as an opposition leader have influenced the CAG? What authority he has which enables him to do that? If the people suspect that the media is helping the government to divert attention from the mess the latter finds itself in, media itself is responsible for it.
Don't worry guys, CAG Vinod Rai is honest Gentlemen.pressure is always applied on honest officers but they listen only to their hearts and honestly perform their constitutional duties.
An institution like the CAG or PAC may be seen as a thorn in the flesh by any government accused of large scale corruption. Hence one is not surprised at the denegration of the CAG and the PAC. Media should avoid being a partner in this project. It should not forget that it is the people's voice and not the publicity organ of the government.
If such a revelation is true, it would be a sad commentary on the glorious tradition of Public Accounts Committee which is the oldest committee (formed in 1923). Whatever be the intentions of Mr. Joshi, a pre-conceived bias does not augur well for PAC as an institution.
Yes Joshi's handiwork in influencing the CAG report has become evident.If someone from the government had done a similar thing, the opposition would have been screaming themselves hoarse.Thanks to Mr Joshi, people will now even have doubts in the CAG reports.
The report on likely meddling in CAG functioning is plausible based on Rekha Gupta picture in the Hindu triumphantly holding up the report when it was released. For one who has closely followed the role of CAG going back to the days of A K Chanda, model of constitutional prropriety, I found Ms Gupta's behaviour as odd. There is less doubt as to the political identification of S K Chaturvedi it was the hallmark of politicisation of our public service. It is a sad day for an India academic with a lifetime in research and teaching in Public Administration.
Mr RP Singh and Mr Kapil Sibal have been talking of figures that are at variance with those quoted by Mr Vinod Rai.If there is no reason to believe them,surely there is no reason to believe Mr Rai either,given the fact that the person involved in the day-to-day progress and the methodology thereof was Mr Singh.Since Mr Vinod Rai as well as Mr RP Singh would both have put in at least 30-odd years of service dealing with audit of Govt Deptts,it is difficult to believe Mr Vinod Rai-and trust his motives-because he overruled his deputy without even informing him.Surely,with the Chairman of the PAC snapping at his heels(as this report suggests),Mr Rai could not have been naive enough to underestimate the political repercussions of the report.Clearly,an attempt could have been made to take advantage of the subjective nature of the figure pertaining to the estimate of loss by making it so extraordinarily large that the Nation would be jolted by the size of the figure itself.
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