M A I N   N E W S

CAG defends mandate, says govt asked for audit
Vibha Sharma/TNS

New Delhi, August 18
Rattled by the triple whammy of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) reports, the government has accused the auditor of not following its ascribed mandate and over-reaching it. Rejecting allegations, officials manning the Constitutional body say the financial scrutiny of the three subjects was very much part of its mandate because the task was assigned to it by the government itself.

“CAG does not have the power to take suo motu action. We conducted the audits because government wanted us to. Moreover, all figures (of losses and undue gains) are based on documents provided by the ministries concerned, they are not based on any assumption,” says a senior CAG official.

Indian taxpayers may have lost as much as Rs 3.8 lakh crore in scams in the power, aviation and coal sectors over the past eight years, the CAG had said in reports tabled before Parliament on Friday.

Questions regarding the CAG’s mandate are invariably raised every time it comes out with an uncomfortable report largely because its original authorisation is bound by an outdated C&AG’s (Duties, Powers and Conditions of Services) Act of 1971, the era when governance and outflow of public funds used to be more straightforward. But the situation has changed, and quite radically since then.

Officials claim that after liberalisation, coming up of other non government entities and strengthening of Panchayati Raj, the government is, perhaps, not even aware of where half its Budget allocations are heading. “With strengthening of Panchayati Raj institutions and coming of PPP and mission modes, more than 50 per cent of the Budget allocations are currently going unmonitored,” they say.

Keeping with these new requirements, CAG proposed readjustment of its mandate to keep up with changing patterns of outflow from public exchequer to local bodies, NGOs, societies and other non-government entities. Officials say a note with proposed changes has been forwarded by the Finance Ministry to the states for their comments. Even under the current circumstances, officials reject the charge of CAG overstepping its assigned mandate.