New Delhi, November 9
The unease between the government and country’s top auditor comes out starkly in a letter the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in July to clarify that none of the audit reports presented during his tenure commented on government’s policy as claimed by the PM on June 29 in a meeting with select editors.

The letter is an unprecedented rejoinder to two remarks the PM made against the auditor in that meeting. He had questioned CAG’s role in commenting on policy with reference to the 2G Spectrum pricing and said that except the present CAG, none in the past had held press conferences.

On both these points, CAG Vinod Rai has said the PM didn’t know the factual position and he was writing to clarify the same. The Joint Parliamentary Committee looking into the 2G Spectrum licensing issue has already sought a copy of CAG’s controversial letter to the PM. On November 14, CAG will appear before the JPC which Congressman PC Chacko heads.

“I wish to clarify that during my tenure none of our audit reports have commented on policy issues. In fact in the report on the 2G audit, we have clearly stated that while accepting the government’s prerogative to formulate the policy of Unified Access Service Licensing, it was felt that an in-depth examination of such policy needed to be done,” CAG said in his letter to the PM dated July 5.

He said the audit examinations into 2G issue revealed that the Department of Telecommunication didn’t implement the licensing regime as approved by the Cabinet in 2003. “The DoT ignored the advice of Finance Ministry, the opinion of Law Ministry to refer the matter to an EGoM. The report draws attention to how PM’s suggestions were not followed,” Rai says adding that, “Nowhere does the report refer to formulation of the policy by the Cabinet”.

Importantly, CAG apprised the PM that it had the right to hold press briefings under a March 2006 CAG media policy which sought to better explain reports tabled in the Parliament. “This practice was questioned in the Chennai High Court but the HC upheld such press briefings,” CAG wrote, saying he never held a press conference and only Deputy CAGs at the Centre and Accountants General in states held such briefings.

Inquiries by The Tribune reveal that in P.G. Narayanan versus CAG (W.P.No.23408 of 2004), the Madras High Court had dismissed the contention of petitioner - an AIADMK MLA that the Tamil Nadu Accountant-General had misused his authority by going to press on an audit report.

Interestingly, CAG in his letter didn’t deny leaks from his office but remained silent on another remark the PM had made about CAG on June 29, where he had said. “We live in a world of uncertainty and ex-post whether it is the CAG, whether it is a parliamentary committee then they analyse post facto. They have a lot more facts which were not available to those who took the decision ? We take decisions in a world of uncertainty and that’s the perspective I think our CAG must adopt if this nation is to move forward,” the PM had said.