Gautam Sen writes about Empowering CAG - The Hindu

Gautam Sen writes about Empowering CAG - The Hindu

My VIEW



A well researched, timely article.

I quote:

"A conference of the chairpersons of Public Accounts Committees (PACs) has just been held under the aegis of the Parliament’s PAC. Nishikant Dubey, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha), member PAC, and a convener of the conference, stated that the time has come to make our national auditor, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), accountable to Parliament through a constitutional amendment.
This is a strange demand, given that the CAG’s constitutional mandate, under the CAG (Duties, Powers & Condition of Service) Act or Audit Act, is to hold the executive accountable. Such a demand had never been articulated in the past. On the other hand, there have been demands for strengthening the Audit Act to further empower the CAG."
Says Gautam Sen
Read full article.

My response copied below:
Letters
September 30, 2015
We need strong institutions
This refers to Gautam Sen’s article “Empower, not weaken the CAG” (September 30). Pre-2014 Elections, governments at the Centre and in states, mostly dependent on several seasonal coalitions of an assortment of political parties were showing symptoms of an ‘inferiority complex’ of sorts and were trying to discipline strong institutions like CAG and RBI by using powers they really did not have. The moves sometimes were packaged as ‘reforms’ and at others came out as ‘notifications’ or guidance from ministries and in worst situations, obedient individuals were placed at the top of government owned/controlled institutions or positions at the top were left vacant the second-in-command aspiring for elevation being used as a tool for getting things done.
As Prime Minister Modi himself claims that in Elections 2014 had voted for change, the change also should reflect in discontinuing stifling of the well-evolved institutional system which has been supportive to governments irrespective of the colour of the flag of the political leadership. Expediency or fear should not be the criterion for dismantling or weakening institutions like Election Commission, CAG, RBI and the judiciary, which are all waiting for reforms. Any interference or legislative move must be to strengthen and broad-base these institutions.
There is a case for making CAG responsible for oversight of accounting of all organisations, both in public and private sector which are dependent on public funds for their resources.


M G Warrier, Mumbai

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