JOIN US The CAG report on the multi-crore 2G spectrum scam led to some top politicians, bureaucrats and corporate bosses being thrown behind bars. Thereafter, the reports of the government auditor on various scandals such as Adarsh Housing Society and 2010 Commonwealth Games continue to give nightmares to the government.
However, Vinod Rai, the present CAG is of the view that more teeth should be given to the institution responsible for enforcing the financial accountability of the Central and State governments and other public authorities and institutions receiving substantial funds from the government.
CAG is the country’s supreme audit institution; wherever public funds are involved, it has a role to play. The critical importance of the institution in our constitutional system was pointed out by Dr B R Ambedkar, chairperson of Constitution drafting committee, who remarked in the Constituent Assembly that the duties of CAG are even more important than those of the judiciary.
Keeping this significance of the institution in mind, the CAG in 2010 asked the UPA-II government to make three broad based amendments in the 1971 Audit Act, which governs the functioning of the audit authorities.
Amendments proposed
The first proposed amendment is related to the speed with which government departments respond to audit requests. It intends to ensure that government departments reply to audit enquiries in 30 days rather than in the open-ended manner followed now, which causes delay in crucial audits because ministries are not bound to respond within a specified time frame. CAG wants a deadline fixed on the lines of RTI Act, which gives ordinary citizens the right to get an answer to their questions within 30 days.
The second amendment proposed by CAG seeks a law specifying that governments will table the audit reports in the legislature immediately after its submission by the accounting watchdog. The Act at present gives wide scope to Central and State governments in this regard, which has led to misuse of the freedom in order to delay making public audit reports that can be politically embarrassing to the government.
In the third set of amendments, CAG proposed to clarify its power to audit new forms of government economic activity that have emerged over the years. Notably, 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution have added a layer of decentralised governance bringing in new channels of expenditure through public-private partnerships and joint ventures not envisaged when the law was first framed.
Under the present Act, CAG cannot effectively audit these new areas of public economic activity. The amendment, if accepted by the government will allow CAG to look into many government projects done in PPP format.
However, the government has not shown any willingness to accept the proposed amendments despite formal reminders.
The silence of the ruling dispensation is not surprising after recent reports of CAG on various scams and wrongful public expenditure causing embarrassment to the government and creating political uproar in the country.
Reasons for the government’s silence on the issue has been aptly explained by Pralay Kanungo, Professor of Political Science at Jawaharlal Nehru University: “Already, the CAG is giving enough headache to the government. Then, why would they give more powers to the institution. The Government knows that if it widens the scope of CAG, then it will open a can of worms, which would be difficult to contain. So, the government would rather put the proposals in cold storage.”
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