Many of the criticisms of the CAG are based on ignorance, misperception and elementary error, and it seems necessary to put matters in the right perspective.
For some time now, there has been a stream of criticism aimed at the Comptroller and Auditor General. There has been a series of media ‘reports' and even editorials questioning the accuracy, motivation and propriety of the CAG's reports. Many of the criticisms of the CAG are based on ignorance, misperception and elementary error (leaving dubious motivations aside) and it seems necessary to put matters in the right perspective.
The CAG is the institution through which the accountability of the government and other public authorities — all those who spend public funds — to Parliament and State Legislatures and through them to the people is ensured. Accountability is not the same thing as accounting, though the latter may be a part of the former; the word ‘accountability' really means answerability. We are of course talking about financial answerability. The Executive is answerable to Parliament and to the people for all its decisions, but that answerability is enforced through the CAG where it involves finance and accounts.
If we understand accountability to mean answerability, much of the confusion disappears. Vouching expenditures and rendering accounts are of course important: Parliament votes funds to the Executive and those funds have to be accounted for. However, answerability is more than that: it also means exercising prudence, avoiding waste, not incurring infructuous expenditure, showing results for moneys spent, and achieving those results at least cost. If the CAG is our prime accountability-ensuring institution, that institution must go into all these matters.
If the CAG were ‘merely' an auditor, why should Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, during the debates in the Constituent Assembly, describe the CAG as the most important functionary in the Constitution, more important than even the judiciary? Again, if the CAG was meant to be merely an auditor, why did the Constitution prescribe for this functionary an oath identical with that prescribed for the Chief Justice and Judges of the Supreme Court, including the words “I will uphold the Constitution and the laws” while a Minister of the Union swears or solemnly affirms only that he will act “in accordance with the Constitution”? Those who try to belittle the importance of the institution and limit its functions must really ask themselves these two crucial questions.
Should the CAG question policy decisions? The answer that immediately suggests itself would be “No”, but consider the following hypothetical cases: (i) the financial implications of a policy were not gone into at all before the decision was made; (ii) the assessment of financial implications was quite clearly wrong; (iii) the numbers were correct but the reasoning behind the decision was specious or fallacious; or (iv) the financial implications in fact turn out to be far higher than the assessment on which the decision was made. In such cases, would it not be within the CAG's mandate, would it not in fact be the CAG's duty as the instrument of accountability, to comment on such a policy?
Further, if the CAG is bound by his (or her) oath of office to uphold the Constitution, can he (she) refrain from commenting on something that prima facie seems unconstitutional? If the government were to formulate a scheme or policy that selectively confers benefits from public funds on an individual or group to the exclusion of others on no stated grounds, or on grounds which seem questionable, would it not be the CAG's duty to point this out?
If the above understanding is correct, then the various activities that the CAG has been undertaking, such as propriety audit, performance evaluations, and so on, are clearly well within his ambit, as different modalities of ensuring accountability. Moreover, there are two other grounds for this understanding: century-old traditions, and international consensus.
Even during British rule there was an Auditor General, and traditions of the independence and objectivity of that office were fairly strong. Gradations of audit were recognised proceeding from simple vouching and expenditure audit through regularity audit, audit of authorisation, audit of the sanctions themselves, and propriety audit, to what used to be called ‘Higher Audit'. After the constitution, the CAGs have been following that tradition and adding some technical and methodological innovations.
Internationally, there are Auditors General, Comptrollers General, Audit Commissions, and other forms of what are known as Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) not only in democratic countries, but even in authoritarian systems. In India, the CAG is the SAI. There are professional organisations such as the International Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) and the Asian counterpart (ASOSAI) in which the Indian SAI plays an important part, and is held in high esteem. The relevant point in the present context is that the Indian CAG has not stretched the audit function beyond the functions performed by other SAIs.
For instance, the National Audit Office of the U.K. has published, among others, reports on: Information and Communications Technology in Government: Landscape Review; Delivering Regulatory Reform; Assessing the Impact of Proposed New Policies; and so on. Some of the reports of the U.S. Government Accountability Office include those on: The U.S. Postal service (“Mail Trends Highlight Need to Fundamentally Change Business Model”); Aviation Safety (“Status of FAA's Actions to Oversee the Safety of Composite Airplanes”); Electronic Waste: Strengthening the Role of the Federal Government in Encouraging Recycling and Reuse; and so on. Having regard to those examples, it can hardly be said that the CAG of India has been guilty of over-reach.
In the CAG's report on the 2G case, the notional loss figure of Rs. 176000 crore has been much criticised. The report in fact makes it clear that it is difficult to arrive at a firm figure of loss, calculates it in three different ways through different methods, and makes no claim that any of the figures is definitive. However, the media delight in reporting that the CAG's figures have been questioned by various people, and a Cabinet Minister immortalised himself by claiming that there was zero loss.
That leads us to the relationship between the CAG and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the Committee on Public Undertakings (COPU). The CAG finalises his reports after taking the government's and PEs' responses to his initial queries and observations and his draft reports, signs them, and submits them to the President of India, who causes them to be laid before Parliament. They are then taken up by the PAC and COPU. It is not the Reports that are under examination but the Ministries and other government offices and PEs, on the basis of those Reports. The CAG assists and advises the parliamentary committees in that examination.
Unlike the CAG of the U.K. (an officer of Parliament) or the CG of the U.S. (a part of the Legislative Branch), the Indian CAG is not an officer of Parliament, but an independent constitutional functionary. The reason for this is that the CAG is CAG for the Union as well as the States, which is a unique feature of the Indian quasi-federal system.
Finally, we come to the question of publicity. The CAG's reports have suffered from too little and not too much publicity. One of the major weaknesses of the Indian system is that very few of the CAG's reports are widely known, and that not all of them get discussed in Parliament. Some years ago, press conferences began to be held after the Audit Reports were placed before Parliament, and that practice continues. This is not a new departure introduced by the present CAG. If the CAG is to become more effective as an institution for the enforcement of accountability, it is necessary that Audit Reports be more widely known and discussed. The people have a right to know their contents. If, as a result of the CWG and the 2G controversies, the CAG and his reports are now better known than before, that is a very good development. If the present CAG manages to enhance the effectiveness of this constitutional institution, the country would owe a debt of gratitude to him.
Keywords: Comptroller and Auditor General, CAG report, political corruption, Public Accounts Committee, accountability, CAG, PAC, Indian quasi-federal system, 2G spectrum scam, 2G case
The writer of the write-up deserves the hearty thanks of readers of THE HINDU for the clarifications regarding the powers, duties and responsibilities of CAG to Parliament and the citizens of India. If he had devoted a portion to the conduct of the present incumbent in the context of the controversial 2G spectrum scam, he could have set at rest the gnawing doubts in the minds of many!Will he be god enough to throw light on these: 1.The report is styled "PERFORMANCE AUDIT REPORT on the Issue of Licences and Allocations of 2G spectrum by the Dept. of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications and Information technology" -Report of the CA&AG of India-Union Govt.(civil)_No. 19 0f 2010-11.It is a well accepted fact that in the matter of 'Performance Audit' the are of Management's policy is 'out of bounds' for the auditor! How,then, CAG could make remarks on pricing of it as that of 2001 given away in 2008? 2.How could the assessment made after audit by DG P and T and the CAG differ so widely?
I had the privilege to work professionally with the author nearly 36 years ago and the excellent analysis reflects his depth of knowledge and experience on the subject.It is so typical of him to bring out the fundamental issues with such great clarity. Kudos to the current CAG Vinod Rai to have the courage to perform his duties effectively.
A well analysed article where the author has hit the nail on its head. This has not come a day too soon. Thank you, THE HINDU.
I read all the comments above, here too we can see many criticizing the CAG on many grounds. One thing what i would like to say is, every one has the talent to argue but their talent will be meaningful only when they argue positively. CAG is right now doing a courageous job, back him, this can inspire other good officials to work better, except that dont try to pull his legs like an irresponsibile & selfish person.
The phrase "Many of the criticisms of the CAG.." creates the perception that the criticisms were done by CAG. However, since the article discusses criticisms levelled upon CAG, the more appropriate wording would have been "Many of the criticisms against the CAG.."
I would like to point out that the CAG is not the final executioner in a democratic process, but one that reviews. Most processes in the government are not one time, but work continuously or in periodic fashion often reconstructing from previously done work. The audit seeks to drive the lessons from government decisions at useful intervals where stock taking is possible. If the comments passed by the report are untenable, there is nothing that prevents an institution from supplying a rebuttal report and clearing the air. It is only good that it is critical and responsive. We do not want somebody to stage shows and give us a profuse thanks. We want to learn our mistakes if any, even if in hindsight, and take course correction. "I don't like it because it criticizes me" is not a sound argument at all.
Thank god , we still have in India , people like the current CAG- Mr Vinod Rai and the CJI - Mr KAPADIA ,and also a newspaper like THE HINDU . Those newspapers & other media that ‘reported' and even questioned the accuracy, motivation and propriety of the CAG's reports, are the same that indulge in paid news , focus on non-issues & twist matters to pander to political and corporate partners for profits .The 71 page PCI sub committe report has already indicted many of them .
Thankyou THE HINDU for spelling out clearly the role of the CAG in the right perspective and thus educating the citizens . If any of the other 'MEDIA " that questioned the accuracy, motivation and propriety of the CAG's reports, do not agree with THE HINDU' , let them come out and challenge this opinion . If they do not challenge this article , it means they have been twisting matters , misinforming the public & pandering to certain political affiliates for mere commercial profiteering .Shame on such media.
It's heartening to see that India already has strong institutions in place - enshrined by those who wrote the constitution themselves. The Election Commission for one has matured to a great extent in the last 20 years in terms of how well they have managed to assert their independence and objectivity. I would guess its the turn of the CAG to do that now.
With the RTI in place already - when we see a more assertive CAG and if an effective Lokpal bill is passed to put in place very competant Lokayuktas in all states - India will truly be on the path to being a robust democracy.
Dear Editor,
The Article is a bit too general based on two terms 'accounting' and 'accountability'. There is a statute "Comptroller and Auditor-General's (Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service) Act, 1971.
Duties and Powers of CAG is described in Chapter III. Section 13 General provisions relating to audit stipulates audit of expenditure, audit of transactions, and audit of accounts of bodies funded by Govt.
Audit as recognised world over is verification of activities in relation to the rules - whether complied or not. Audit cannot question the wisdom of policies. Policy making is the exclusive domain of Government and Hon'ble Supreme Court has spelt it very clearly that Courts shall not tread this area. Policy decisions are questionable only on the grounds of constitutionality or violation of an existing statute and not otherwise.
These being the facts, audit no place in policy matters. It is easy to be wise after things have fully unfolded but not before.
Sir,
The article is very informative and throws light on the system the CAG
works. I congratulate The Hindu for publishing such a good article and
inviting comments over it. Unfortunately the Executive always
questions the action of judiciary, CAG and other constitutional bodies
over policy matter to hide its incompetence,corruption and other wrong
deeds.It is a wrong notion that the ministers,MPs, MLAs being people's
representatives have got sole right to govern a country or state
without having any accountability. They forget that we all are
accountable or answerable to the Constitution of India. No body is
above constitution. not even the President of India. It is true that
it is very difficult to calculate the exact loss of the public money
in 2G spectrum. At the same time it is a not a matter of arithmetical
calculation, it is a matter of corruption. Even a loss of single rupee
matters if it is based on corrupt means.
wonderful article.Present politicians are terribly worried about CAG Reports as they expose their corruptions. Without CAG corrupt officials and politicians could get away with any number of murders.
Right on time and target. Insightful in addressing the ignorance clouding the powers and functions of CAG. Some people commented that policies should be vetted by the CAG. The author has rightly said that "the CAG upholds the constitution". Understand that the CAG is not creating a report from his personal diary. He looks at the executive policy making and decisions through the constitutional prism for adherence. So, a minister instead of getting the approval of the CAG for policy decisions, has to merely abide by the constitution, best practices(past audit findings) and correct norms while framing and/or implementing a policy. Audit is not a fault finding mission; it is an exercise which analyses compliance to laid out procedures - in the process, faults if detected, have to be understood in proper light by the auditees (Govt., in this case) and rectified wherever necessary. Such constitutional institutions, judiciary and selfless citizens are the only hope for democratic India.
Sir, The article by Ramaswamy R. Iyer on 'abc of CAG' is highly informative to the Genral public on CAG and role of Audit in Govt. functions. Those at Government level are sending a wrong signal to the Executives at lower level by questioning the role of AUDIT.Much of the Audit reports emanate from the lower level of each department.In our Govt set up, Audit is an unwelcome guest for the Executives. They expect that the Audit Officers do not place the shortcomings in writing and to achieve this they would bent down to any extent.It is all fine with those Audit Officers who want to maintain a personal relationship with the Executives. But the experience will be painful for those who keep Public interest supreme. I have painful experiences as an Audit Officer in the Defence Department whenever highlighted commissions/omissions of the Executives. Govt's efforts to censure CAG will only embolden selfish elements in the Govt. service and ultimately public interest will suffer.
ABC of the CAG? Writing an argumentative piece and disguising it as an account of the factual position is quite sad as far as journalistic standards are concerned. It is also sad how so many people in this country are willing to forgo debate and actual effort for falling any person who raises the bogey of corruption. IF the CAG is to decide what is good policy, why have an elected government? If there is corruption, the Courts are the proper forum for bringing it up and deciding whether the government has acted illegally and not the CAG. And about equating the CAG with the Supreme Court on the basis of an our context reading of Dr. Ambedkar's words shows a marked ignorance of democracy and respect for others ideas.
The excelent article has thrown enough light on the correct perspecive of the role of the Comptroller and Auditor of India. I am sure the elected representatives in Parliament and State legislatures will correct their (mis)understandings of the role of the great Institution of C&AG of India.I would like to thank The Hindu for publishing the article and particularly the vast reactions to the report
Well done THE HINDU.
This article is superb and very informative.I congratulate The Hindu for publishing such a fantastic article.I thank the author for his work and his intentions behind writing this fine article.It is great to know there are still people like this author who are not arrogant or politically motivated, but who are genuinely worried and working to protect the system from all the evils it is facing in reality..
A wrong emphasis is being placed on the CAG questioing policiy decision. Such decisions are questionable in the case of patronised benificiaries, gross underestimate of expenditure andd such like. CAG reports are tabled in Parliament and it is for the Government of the day to implement or reject CAG observations. Grounds for rejection have to be solid and cogent and not based on smear or disinformation campaign. Sadly the UPA is indulging in such activities.
This is not first time The Hindu discussed about CAG and his reports. Again well done, at right time. When I read CAG 2G report recently I was thrilled the way analyzed. Till then was under impression CAG quantified loss of Rs176,000 lakhs. When I read , I realized I was fed with misinformation by paid news all these days.
Well done CAG keep it up, dog can bark but can you stop functioning?
Mr Sundram commented CAG has not done in IT revolution. My friend CAG has published IT audit report since 2003. Pl read in CAG web site.
Many citizens, politicians and journalists are poorly informed about Indian constitution and legal system. Their understanding is created by biased interest groups through media and NGOs. The rhetoric is worth ignoring.
Obviously the Institutions like Parliament, Executive and Press is feeling insecure when an independent Constitutional body questioned their conscious omissions and silence.
Same has happened when T N Seshan exercised the responsibilities and authorities mandated by Constitution upon Election Commission of India, another independent institution.
All this shows the strength of Indian constitution. Let's bow before the far sightedness of the visionaries in Constituent Assembly of India.
CAG would have committed some errors on technical details. This must not cause the Institution to be called unwanted and over reaching. Some errors in such enormous auditing are expected. Error in petty issues in one audit report does not make all other audits incorrect and useless. Also no one is stopping the affected ministries from correcting CAG.
It might be wrong to see the content only unaware of the context. Certain decisions, actions taken may not actually reflect the true value of the financial involvement. Many a times, it has been seen that auditors act less to those powerful people and strong on the weak. This give the working of CAG doubtful.
This is a well-timed and welcome exposition on answerability and related constitutional devices. The hypothetical question on 'policy decisions' is well-posed and suitably answered. There can no two opinion on, The CAG's reports have suffered from too little and not too much publicity. One of the major weaknesses of the Indian system is that very few of the CAG's reports are widely known, and that not all of them get discussed in Parliament...There is an urgent need for awareness among the public. For my part, I do a modest job of creating this awareness and interpreting audit findings in layman's Tamil. I wish to add a point. The CAG should speak to the people of India, in their lingo. Thanks for this opportunity.
@Mitra. Legislative assembly makes policies, because policies have to be democratic in nature. CAG cannot do that, but I take they can question them, for which they need a higher authority untouched by the legislative assembly. Do we have CAG at state level? State policies are booklets of blunders. We need more watchdogs around state secretariats.
Excellent article. I wish all news media reprint this article. Citizens have a right to know. It must be mandatory for the CAG reports to be placed in parliament and public domain. Executive is duty bound to make good judgement when it comes to policy. If they make an error it is sad. If they intentionally twist the policy to enrich a few, it is a crime. Whoever helps is suppression of facts must be charged with obstruction of justice. In contrast, when very small mistakes where pointed out about our Honorable First Prime Minister Pandit Nehru's expenses, He had the wisdom and personality to appreciate the CAG with words like "But for the ever vigilant eyes of the Auditors, this would never come to light" .. Our current PM is besieged by alliance partners. only the Supreme Court can save the Nation. Thanks
This article should serve as an eye opener for the people working on Lok Pal Bill. To me it appears that just by enhancing CAG's powers and modifying its organization, we can have the CAG doing the work of the proposed Lok Pal, the ombudsman to monitor and control accountability of the public servants. The check on corruption will be a natural by-product of this decision. Let us not create multiple agencies doing similar work and add to the burden on tax payers. This way there will be a constitutional body with the responsibilities to ensure accountability and answerability in dealings of a public servant, including the PM. This was the much-hailed suggestion of the Congress scion, Rahul Gandhi. The Lokayuktas can work with the CAG in the new setup.
CAG's work is like a doctor's, who does the post mortem. He should stick to his findings and not give advice to the government on policies.
The article is right on the money! The CAG, as the distinguished father of our constitution, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, rightly pointed out, is the most important constitutional body. If the Government and most Government functionaries are corrupt, as they are today, the CAG is the only institution, apart from the Supreme Court that can point out wrong-doing fearlessly.
Neither the Supreme court nor the CAG can eradicate corruption in the nation. That is a job for the few remaining courageous and patriotic politicians. However, a weakened CAG and Supreme Court will spell the death knell for democracy in India. The people of India must be ever vigilant and fight any moves to denigrate these two pillars of freedom.
There are a number of automonous institutions in India with constitutional status to enjoy autonomy in their proper functioning. These include the courts, the election commission, the CAG and CVC. Among these I would reckon Mr. Kuldip Singh the former Supreme Court Judge (to mention at least one although there could be many such), Mr. T.N. Seshan the former Chief Election Commissioner in 1990s, and the present Comptroller and Auditor General of India who have shown that the institutions that they represent are autonomous and that they can exercise powers without partiality, bias or any prejudice. It is unfortunate that CVC or others could not be included in this list. We have awards for defence personnel (gallantary), police (gallantary), civilian (social service) awards and awards for politicians or ministers (public service). Unfortunately we do not have equivalent awards for people in executive. The above 3 should be given with such awards, existent or newly constituted, to begin with.
Interesting article. Audit is a review of accounts and processes. Observations on the processes of how decisions are made, the material used, misuse of powers, extending more than the power granted are all part of audit processes. CAG as the auditor has made some observations which are critical of governments in the 2G spectrum and other cases. It is the responsibility of the parliament to evaluate and hold the government responsible. It is the duty of judiciary to punish responsible persons for fraud, misuse, corruption, etc.
If CAG is wrong, the government can get the PAC chairman who is an opposition leader to accept the same and get the report thrown out in parliament. If not, let them do their job and let us take lessons from the same for better governance in the country.
Some of the letters display gross ignorance of CAG's terms of reference, capabilities -- the CAG and its auditors are being vilified just because they ask too many inconvenient questions. Having said that, the CAG auditors are watch dogs not bloodhounds. The present day politicians and civil servants have (for the MOST part) entered their professions only to loot the national exchequer and resources -- indeed, India ranks as world leader where-in a high percentage of its legislators have civil and criminal cases pending against them. In this sordid scenario, the role played by CAG is extremely critical. The CAG must include in its staff, people who have vast functional knowledge in different fields and are IT-savvy. The majority of those mocking the CAG are peeved because of the publicity its reports generate -- perhaps such people should study the responsibilities of the CAG in the right context. And, yes, they should change their attitudes to accept questioning by the CAG.
When our democracy is organic,why should not be its organs.We are shifting towards participatory realm.For a true democracy information sharing with its citizen to make them real stakeholders, barring few protocols,.A policy may have nos of aspects,CAG looks only at financial one.Mid-course correction is an innovative means to REALIZE the GOAL of policy.And people awareness is essential for INCLUSIVENESS.
Dear Mr. Krishnadas & Mr. Nambiar,
I would like to ask you gentlemen what was the CAG doing till now?. The 2Gspectrum and issuing of licences started from which year?. Normally the auditing is done at end of each financial year. Was the CAG sleeping all these years by not reporting these losses all these years?. According to my opinion if they failed to properly audit these losses each year, defenitely they are also a party to this loss. By raising this issue earlier they could have saved at least half of the money to the Govt.
I fully agree with Mr. R. Sundaram. CAG is getting all the accolades by writing about policies on hindsight. This is a very dangerous trend.
We can relate it to the story that tells about a man's journey through a forest. He comes across a Y junction and has no idea to choose which way to go. At last using all his experience and gut feeling he chooses a path. After going thru this path and reaching the destination if He thinks about what was in store at the end of the other path it is foolish.
But what if a third person happens to see the end of both the paths and if the other path was good he would defenitely criticize this person for choosing the wrong path. This is what CAG is doing.
Another aspect is quantification of losses occurred. How CAG can do that?. How did he quantify the losses. It is not his job to do this excercise.
I only quote what was published in The Hindu-Frontline in the Sep24- Oct 7, 2011. It says in its heading, "The Truth Hardly Matters Now". The Damage by CAG has Been Done.” Further, "what is clear is that the CAG did not merely commit a huge mistake in calculating the 'loss' figures but that it also suppressed all dissenting voices in this regard. All this could not have been done without some underlying reason. Probing further in this direction would not just bring out the whole truth but also clearly show the truth behind the CAG SCAM.".
Fully agreeing, I only can say the effect could have destabilize the
MMS government if DMK preferred to withdraw its support to the
Government. Was it expected !? /bsc
The function of Audit, has the advantage of the hindsight and many a times, the action is reviewed in that angle. However, there is nothing wrong to review their critical comments and prevent and/or rectify things as necessary. Another suggestion would be to criticise the policy decisions, well before implementation so that such policy decisions are not questioned at a later, but only its implementation and accountablity are reviewed and commented.
Definition for Audit and Assurance Standard AAS-1 by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India(ICAI) is: Auditing is the independent examination of financial information of any entity, whether profit oriented or not, and irrespective of its size or legal form, when such an examination is conducted with a view to expressing an opinion thereon.It is an independent evaluation that will include some degree of quantitative and qualitative analysis. The audit report will express an opinion on the financial information submitted to it for auditing. If the CAG has expressed an opinion after auditing matters connected with 2G spectrum allocation, he was only doing his duty. His opinion can legitimately touch upon policy issues which have a bearing on the financial information audited.
A educating article as many are under the impression that CAG is only something like a departmental auditor and especially after 2g scam coming to light criticism has been leveled against him by the congress as having exceeded his jurisdiction and gone beyond his province.Readers will get well informed about the CAG his functions etc after reading this article.
The government is working so inefficiently that the it is hampering other institutions' performance and falling under their ambit. Why not CAG interfere in the implementation of policies if the Govt is not able to implement efficiently and incurring huge losses to the exchequer. Why not Judiciary ask the Govt to distribute rotting grain to the poor if the Govt does not have any better management for that. Its Govt which should take care that no one should raise their finger on it.
If government policies are to be finally decided by the CAG , or the various regulating bodies like TRAI, etc. why have a ministry with 70 odd ministers. Criticism of a government policy of say, how to allocate spectrum is certainly beyond the purview of the C.A.G. Government has to take into account various factors, like the benefits to the customers, the impact on penetration of telecom services, the price people have to pay, what effect expansion of cheap telec services is going to have on the country as a whole,etc. before deciding the policy.Merely criticising the policy as having caused a huge loss is somewhat irresponsible. Even assuming that the Govt. could have gained 1,79,000 crores by auctioning the spectrum, where is that money going to come from. It is from you and me who are enjoying the cheap mobile services, which have transformed the country.The obscene bids for the 3G spectrum, has made these services very costly and out of reach of the common man.
Thanks a Lot for your information and analysis and heads up to THE HINDU team for this valuable information. This article is must read for every Indian. The CAG should use his power to eliminate the corruption and make the Indians more proud.
definitely true.But sometimes some mistakes can be really be genuine.when some officer takes a decision over a certain issue...it would have been the need of the hour though uneconomical,serving pub interest.propriety assessment in such cases should envisage such compelling reasons rather than just looking financial concerns.
Though it is understandable that CAG is a constitutional body like Election Commission, we fail to understand as to what was CAG doing for so long. Were they merely approving the expenses till now? Also as being pointed by many that auditor cannot question policy decision, there should be another body which has to justify/approve all the expenses with financial vialibity. This way we can avoid political parties throwing a lot of freebies and not doing the most important development activities like education, infrastructure.
Does the CAG not operate at lower levels?. For instance, I would like to know how much funds haven been allocated to my area of residence for roads,water..etc and check if they have been properly used. Would the CAG reports help this sort of query.
In a democratic country, collective wisdom is always behind the policy and it is surely to be laid by the Elected Representatives of the people. All other inputs for detailed working out of the policy are supplied by the executive or other experts - and this input include contribution by the observations of the CAG. To that extent and no more is policy a matter of consideration for the CAG. Let us not forget that CAG office is as much executive office as any other office - regulated by same civil service rules as anybodt else in the government. Surely it has all the failings which any office/r can have - some efficient, some corrupt etc.
Any contribution which helps the nation should be welcomed irrespective of the source or the motives behind it - after all good progress has many times been achieved while motives have not been altogether good.
This is an excellent summary on functions of the CAG. A copy of this surely need to be sent to all MPs for their enlightenment lest they will continue to make childish comments on the issue of corruption. The current UPA government is trying to scuttle investigations into the 2G scam which is highly objectionable. Every institutions has its role to play for the democracy to function in an orderly manner. Few ministers misdemeanor and misappropriation of public funds need to be followed through to the logical end (their assets must be impounded and they should rot in jail). Few loud mouthed Ministers, MPs & Spokespersons think they can do anything and get away easily.
@ Mitra: Welfare of people are more important than constitutional proprieties and conventions.
@Raghuraman R: If in laying off 10% of workforce there is no 'disruption' to public service - then they should be: a. laid off or b. trained to become better contributors or c. employed somewhere else where they can contribute. Common man's money should not be wasted on people who do not contribute. That money can and should be spent in some other way for the benefit of the common man.
Bravo!. A very hard hitting article. I agree with one of the distinguished readers who has commented above calling for expansion of the role of CAG in the era of liberalization. It truly makes sense. Farmers are dying due to incompetence of the administrative authorities and capitalistic giants are minting money by way of tax concessions. The government really needs to wake up on a lot of things but it must surely be given a rude awakening if it doesnt wake up on the question of accountability or according to the author 'answerability'.
It appears that media had reported whether it was sale or dilution of shares in connection with telecom company issues. Should the issue be sale or dilution of shares when there was so much loss to the exchequre? Dwelling on meaning of such words/sentences over looking national loss may be due to many political compulsions and survival of government etc. But, CAG need not succumb to these and that is why that institution is a separate body. But for CAG`s reporting of presumptive loss, would 2G issue surfaced? Hence, every words/sentences of notings of responsible officers/ministers must be
seen in all angles by CAG for which he/she need not be criticised even at times if he/she goes wrong.
Very good article. On 2G case, the CAG calculated the notional loss in three different methods. All the three methods are wrong.On the day of issuing 2G licences, the irregularties of the telecom minister can be comented. But how can the minister anticipate the so called sale by SWAN or UNITEC? The cost of petrol rose to $145 per barrel and came down to $55 per barrel. Can anyone predict which way, the cost of fuel will move? The CAG has done harm and disservice to the society and to the nation, by the calculating the loss by unfair method
It is very hard to believe that the gentleman who wrote this article really believed in his arguments. He is saying that it is for the CAG to question the reason behind or reasonableness of policy decisions. ReallY? Then we do not need any thing called the executive - let CAG run the country and let us see if dictatorship by a bunch of umimaginative bueracrats delivers a better India. The current CAG is playing to the galleries - he is saying lot of things with the objective of getting to the papers - constitutional proprieties and conventions are more important than 2 minutes of fame.
To Ramdas Naik, CAG does not question the policy itself, its audit includes performance/effectiveness audit of the Policy decisions as against the Objectives of the Policies. In 2G case, Govt/GOM never made it public that they wanted subsidize spectrum bcoz objective was to increase teledensity. if that was the objective, then subsidy given has to be compared with amount of teledensity,penetration, service effectiveness etc. On the contrary, PM and Raja's letters show that PM was for Revenue generation through Auction, and to find fair market value through auction.
Excellent analysis.role of cag in india is now ever increasing. as market forces are enhancing comlexities of government finance with incresing magnitude of budget . cag should increse the ambit of auditing to ppp projectes , auditing of govenment funded ngo societies .here media can suppliment cag by organising debate over audit reports
Very well written article by Ramaswamy R. Iyer. We need this kind of quality articles to enlighten the people of our sleeping country.
Fully agreed with author, that people of India have every right to know audit reports which depicts transparency and enforces the government and executive to exercise jurisprudence in spending public money.Imagine the nation would have been at a great loss, if 2G and CWG reports would not have unearthed the magnitude of losses to exchequer. More than debating at the accuracy of a quantitative figure, is it really not important that it was because of these report that people of india came forward with a unity to fight against corruption and forced the govt. to take at least some steps in the direction.
It involves finance and accounts but NOT TECHNOLOGY. I think this is the central point that the author of this article is missing. To judge if the govt or ministers have been 'exercising prudence', CAG should be technically competent, not just a mastery over accounting. For instance, does CAG have an engineer will at least a decade of technical experience, say working in DRDO or ISRO, forget private companies? Secondly 'achieving those results at least cost' is not the objective of the Govt. The author again misses the basics of Governance for Government is NOT A COMPANY OR BUSINESS, with the sole motive of making profits. Ideally one can argue that laying off say 10% of Govt workforce can reduce the expenditure of the Govt without any 'disruption' to public services. Can/will/should the Govt do that?
Thanks to the hindu for such an informative article.Drawing differences between our CAG and other countries' CAGs helped us analyse where we stand.As the author suggests,to make our CAG an effective institution,the audit reports of the same should be widely discussed and necessary steps should be taken.
...in one instance when a public sector oil company produced five plus percentage ATF out of crude oil.but the field formation of CAG says 'no it must be 80%'(any expert in the oil field will laugh but its a fact).The superiors at the top also accepted the field view.
In actual sense many of the CAG reports are prepared based on ignorance,misperception and elementary error.Many the time people at the field lack technical understanding and ignorance of field realities. People at the top of CAG are either publicity mongers or politically motivated people.The author's views are understandable but can the author dare to say that people at CAG are non-corrupt?
We have had reforms ( or at least discussing about reforms) in every section of govt. Would the author clarify why CAG should be treated as a holy cow?!
Kudos to The Hindu and the author. With the widespread corruption, leakage of public funds and ripping of public assets through modern mantras like PPP, the institution has now assumed importance. A VVIP addressing the annual meeting of Accountants General some years back had asked the accountants general present not to be’ blood hounds’, shocking people. A UPA minister giving a full pager newspaper interview went even to the extent of saying that civil servants were afraid of taking decisions because they were afraid of CAG, CBI. This high level ignorance of a constitutional body went unnoticed and commented by our media. It would shock the people to know that the UPA is sitting pretty on the CAG request to enlarge his powers to include all modern innovations of business. Lastly, the point made by the author on the need for wider availability of CAG reports is very valid. The current incumbent deserves a hearty thanks from people for putting his office so much in prominence.
Was expecting this for a long time. I was astound by media editorials criticizing CAG earlier. It shows that how so called leading newspapers do not do any research before making tall judgments on such highly credible institution which ensures constitutional governance. Such ignorant reporting should be fought against by responsible media. Thanks The Hindu for doing it again!
Excellent!!! Like the reports of the CAG which this article recommends should reach the public, I wish this article reaches all literate public. I have spent hours giving similar explanation to lots of acquaitances. It will help a lot if such articles are widely disseminated.
It is hoped that all those who are hell bent on belittling the role of a constitutional authority, due to sheer arrogance and ignorance will read and re- read this wonderful and timely article and grasp the contents. Carry on with such good work, The Hindu!
Thank god , we still have in India , people like the current CAG- Mr Vinod Rai and the CJI - Mr KAPADIA ,and also a newspaper like THE HINDU . Those newspapers & other media that ‘reported' and even questioned the accuracy, motivation and propriety of the CAG's reports, are the same that indulge in paid news , focus on non-issues & twist matters to pander to political and corporate partners for profits .The 71 page PCI sub committe report has already indicted many of them .
Thankyou THE HINDU for spelling out clearly the role of the CAG in the right perspective and thus educating the citizens . If any of the other 'MEDIA " that questioned the accuracy, motivation and propriety of the CAG's reports, do not agree with THE HINDU' , let them come out and challenge this opinion . If they do not challenge this article , it means they have been twisting matters , misinforming the public & pandering to certain political affiliates for mere commercial profiteering .Shame on such media.
No selfless politician will criticize CAG and only the disgruntled politicians who treat politics as a lucrative profession will criticize the premier constitutional institution. Let us not be perturbed by the growing criticism of functioning of CAG by the political leaders who are in power or carried away by the support and appreciation of CAG by the leaders of the opposition parties as they are merely using CAG reports as a tool to settle their scores with the ruling parties, whosoever in power.
As far as Aam Adhmi and enlightened citizens of the country understand and realize with gratitude that despite all the handicaps and hostile attitude of the State and Central Governments, CAG, the premier statutory audit body of the nation is doing yeoman service to the Nation. Taking corrective measures by plugging the inherent loopholes on the Sector specific mindboggling revelations of leakage of revenue and loss to the exchequer in major Services like construction and telecom sectors, duty foregone on account of misuse and abuse of various export promotion schemes and area based exemptions, various Central aid and funds to the State Governments on social, education and healthcare sectors by the Union and the State Governments will itself help to minimize the scope of corruption and pilferage of revenue to the exchequer.The need of the hour is strengthening and widening the role of CAG to cover the post liberalization concepts like Public-private Partnership model (PPP), Built Operate and Transfer (BOT) and Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), as the substantial amount of taxpayers’ money is utilized in the above schemes. The need of the hour is widening the role of CAG to cover the post liberalization concepts like Public-private Partnership model (PPP), Built Operate and Transfer model (BOT) and Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), as the substantial amount of taxpayers’ money is utilized in the above schemes. Unfortunately the Government is dragging its feet on the proposal despite CAG sending concrete proposals in 2010 itself and getting formal reminders on an almost weekly basis.
This article is as tedious and boring as any audit report. No one is questioning the authority of CAG to conduct proprietary and performance audit. But when it makes value judgement on policies like " Loan Waivers for Farmers' it is skating on thin ice. CAG does not have to have any vision of the society. It has to merely criticise day in and day out based on hindsight which the executive does not possess at the time of taking decisions in periods of uncertainty. Even in the case 2G CAG, it did not show any great alacrity. It appears, it started fishing in troubled waters only fter news reports from anonymous whistle blowers started doing the round. Even todaywell into the fifth decade of IT revolution, CAG's expertise in IT and modern technology is nothing to write home about. Principally, it is an institution which has to be tolerated and suferred by rule by abiding engineers and technologists.
Very informative and educative article. There is cofusion that parliment is supreme over anybody among the politicians. From yr article it can be seen that our constitution provided authorities like CAG to monitor and guide parliment while spending the public money. So if we start questioning such authorities we are going towards anarchy.If so parliment can safeguard any minister's wrong doing--- that is what our PM is doing!!
Hope Shekhar Gupta and the Indian Express read this article first and foremost!
The above is an excellent review of the audit functions and powers of the C&AG under the Constitution.We,the Public, are very grateful to the present CAG for having brought out his report on the 2-G Tele com licenses granted by the Govt in 2007-08 atleast by Dec'2010 in his Report.This falls very well under the performance & socio econmic policies audit of the CAG. Such type of Audit can very well bring out the corrupt practices which are prevalent now but are manifesting later slowly in the implementation resulting in reduction of resources available with the govt for upliftment of the poor. The quantification of loss in such cases of performance audit is not as important as the defective policies high lighted by Audit.
A wonderful and incisive article -- a must read for every Indian. The CAG submits the audit report to the President, the first citizen of the country. This reporting to the highest office enables the CAG to analyze matters totally impartially (not indifferently) and without fear of reprisal from anyone. It is akin to an internal auditor who analyzes, reports and recommends but does not enforce action -- this is to ensure that the CAG does not become the judge, jury and the executioner all rolled into one. Decades ago, when the CAG reported on the Mundhra scandal, Nehru mocked at "some Charlie in the audit department". This tradition was upheld by his grandson Rajiv, who mocked at "some Charlie in the audit department" for the Bofors findings. Now even ministers outside the ruling family are mocking the CAG findings, questioning the CAG's ambit of authority. For the common man, the CAG is truly "the most important functionary in the Constitution, more important than even the judiciary".
A good article !!!! It's a bitter truth that majority of Indians don't know about CAG and their way of functioning.Media and news channels can lead in spreading knowledge about it.In federal system like in india ,CAG must be more empowered ,only then it could give a moral boost up to democracy.
If the CAG is to question policy then perhaps the government should ask the CAG to whet policy decisions before implimenting them.Would the CAG be willing to do that ? That would also mean taking the rap if it backfired.Internationally the role of audit is clearly demarcated.
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