Joshi blasts govt for 'maligning' PAC, CAG

Pranab praised for supporting key institutions in country

According to sources, Joshi has recently shot off a letter to the finance minister. When asked about this communication to Mukherjee, the PAC chairman refused to go beyond saying “ it is confidential”.

Rejecting the charge of Congress leader Digvijay Singh that the CAG was put under pressure by the PAC, Joshi said on January 28, 2010, the CAG had informed PAC that it would conclude its report within six months.

It was Gopinath Munde and not Joshi who was then chairman of the PAC. Joshi said when the report did not come within six months the PAC reminded CAG about the report as the issue was on the boil in the press as well as in the Parliament.

The Bharatiya Janata Party leader strongly protested the attempt “to malign” PAC and CAG saying now that the report was unpalatable, charges were being levelled against the key institutions.

“At a time when democratic institutions are under attack and several scams have come to light, it is heartening that Finance Minister Pranab Muk­herjee has come out in support of the institutions,” he said while speaking at a function  here marking 150 years of CAG.
No pressure, says CAG

CAG Vinod Rai himself denied any pressure from any quarter with regard to the 2G spectrum allocation report.

Rai said that the CAG had told the Public Accounts Committee in January 2010 that the audit report would be ready in six months, hence suo moto examination by the PAC was carried out in a parallel manner.

He further clarified that the CAG had told PAC that the audit findings could not be shared with anyone before being tabled in Parliament.

The BJP veteran was effusive in this praise to the finance minister and referred to Mukherjee’s speech at the ADB annual meeting at Hanoi this year in which he had said that Indian governance system is fortified with strong checks and balances through institutions such as the PAC and CAG  and said “such clear statements really go a long way in infusing confidence in these institutions”.

“I congratulate the Finance Minister for your support and believe that you will continue to support these institutions. They are highly dependent on you for the principle of transparency,” he said.

He recalled that when the then Defence Minister Krishna Menon had made certain derogatory remarks about the CAG in Lok Sabha in 1960, the then Speaker M Ananthas­ayanam Ayyangar had ruled that CAG is an independent authority whose conduct cannot be “impeached in this manner” however strong the language that might have been used by the auditor.

Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh had on Tuesday alleged if the figures in the CAG report on the 2G scam were inflated and asked if the CAG had an “agenda” behind the report.  The Congress leader also reportedly alleged links between Rai and the BJP and that Joshi had contacted CAG even before the report was out.