New Delhi: A Public Interest Litigation has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the appointment of the new Comptroller and Auditor General. Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma is set to take charge as the new CAG and his appointment is already being questioned by the Opposition, which calls it a case of conflict of interest.
Sharma handled several defence acquisitions and the government has given no reason for appointing him as CAG. The Supreme Court will now hear the matter in July.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley said he was not making remark about the individual but it was an "institutional conflict of interest". Jaitley, who is Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said a substantial part of budget was spent on defence procurement. "He will audit it himself. Is it appropriate?" Jaitley asked.
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12:11 PM, May 23, 2013
New Delhi: The BJP on Wednesday targeted the UPA government over appointment of Shashi Kant Sharma as the new Comptroller and Auditor General of India, and said there was "institutional conflict of interest" as he will be auditing defence deals which were finalised during his term as defence secretary. Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley said he was not making remark about the individual but it was an "institutional conflict...
05:08 AM, May 23, 2013
Wednesday was Vinod Rai's last day as Comptroller and Auditor General of India. ...
11:48 PM, May 22, 2013
New Delhi: Even as the UPA hopes to put controversies and scams behind it on the completion of its 4 years in power, the government may be looking at another row, this one over the selection of the new Comptroller and Auditor General of India. Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma is set to take charge as the new CAG and his appointment is already being questioned with the Opposition calling...
01:59 PM, May 22, 2013
New Delhi: Vinod Rai's tenure as the Comptroller and Auditor General of India ends on Wednesday. Rai's five years in office are seen as controversial given the CAG reports on the coal scam and the 2G spectrum allocation scam. Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma will take charge as the new CAG, but his appointment is already being questioned. Vinod Rai is the man who caused a big embarrassment to the...
11:00 AM, May 22, 2013
New Delhi: CAG report commands respect and cannot be brushed aside but it cannot be the final word on an issue, the Supreme Court said on Thursday while noting that the auditor's findings cannot be gospel truth as it is subject to scrutiny by Parliament. A bench of justices KS Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra said that CAG's report is always subject to parliamentary debates and it is possible that Public...
10:40 PM, May 09, 2013
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has tabled its report on the Rural Employment Guarantee Act or NREGA, as it was utilised across India. CNN-IBN has accessed the report which says only 30 per cent of 129 lakh works worth over Rs 1.26 lakh crore approved in 14 states were completed. ...
11:49 PM, Apr 23, 2013
New Delhi: Downplaying CAG's report on the Rural Employment Guarantee Act or NREGA, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said that it is a performance and not a financial audit. Ramesh said, "It is CAG's job to find shortcomings and if they don't show, it means they are not doing their job." Ramesh further said that the audit was conducted only after the government requested for it. The clarification comes after...
03:50 PM, Apr 23, 2013
New Delhi: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has tabled its report on the Rural Employment Guarantee Act or NREGA, as it was utilised across India. CNN-IBN has accessed the report which says only 30 per cent of 129 lakh works worth over Rs 1.26 lakh crore approved in 14 states were completed. Barely 30 per cent of NREGA works completed, while Bihar, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh used only 20...
12:37 PM, Apr 23, 2013
Mumbai: The CAG report on irrigation projects was tabled in the Maharashtra Assembly on Thursday. The CAG slammed the Maharashtra government over incomplete irrigation projects, saying it has led to cost overruns of around Rs 27,000 crore in a finding that could raise questions on the role of NCP and its leader Ajit Pawar. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India, which presented its report for the year ending March...
04:31 PM, Apr 18, 2013
New Delhi: The government will "soon" decide on the new CAG and would take a call whether to make it a three-member body at an "appropriate time", Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office V Narayanasamy has said. "It (name of CAG) will happen soon. The Finance Minister will recommend a candidate to the Prime Minister, who will approve it and send it to the President for announcing," he told...
08:43 PM, Apr 11, 2013
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said government-owned firms in Gujarat granted "undue benefit" to big industrial houses, which resulted in revenue losses worth crores of rupees to the state exchequer. The CAG report, for the year ended March 31, 2012, was tabled on Tuesday in the Gujarat State Assembly. ...
11:04 PM, Apr 02, 2013
Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh on Friday hit back at Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai after he blamed the government of crony capitalism during a speech at Harvard. Reacting to Rai's speech, Digvijaya said, "If not an accountant, what does he want to be? The Prime Minister? The Constitution has defined the role of the CAG. How will a democracy function if judiciary does the job of the...
02:51 PM, Feb 08, 2013
In a hard-hitting speech, the Comptroller and Auditor General, Vinod Rai, has defended his role. Rai has said that the role of the public auditor cannot be confined only to placing reports in Parliament. During a speech at the Harvard Kennedy School of government, Rai spoke on the various scams in the government. ...
11:30 AM, Feb 08, 2013
New Delhi: The medical arm of the defence services on Friday came in for criticism by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) over "critical shortage" of medical officers which is likely to impact patient care. "There was an overall shortage of 12 per cent medical officers in the hospitals under the Director General Armed Forces Medical Services...Even among the Command and Specialist hospitals, the posted strength varied from minus 25...
05:32 PM, Dec 14, 2012
New Delhi: Anti-corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal and the opposition BJP have slammed the government over the proposal to make the Comptroller and Auditor General a multi-member body, accusing it of trying to suppress the constitutional office. While Kejriwal has said the CAG appointments should be independent and neither the government nor the opposition must have a say in the selection process, BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu accused the UPA of trying...
12:21 PM, Nov 12, 2012
New Delhi: The MoS PMO, V Narayanasamy on Sunday said that the media had misquoted him over a remark he made about the Comptroller and Auditor General of India and said that he had never said that the Constitutional body will be made a multi-member body. "I was being interviewed by a PTI correspondent and he asked me a few questions. He never asked me anything about making the CAG...
06:45 PM, Nov 11, 2012
New Delhi: Facing a political storm following CAG reports on alleged scams, the government says it is actively considering a proposal to make the official auditor a multi-member body. Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office V Narayanasamy says Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has become "more impatient" and he wants that all constitutional bodies to work within their parameters. "It (making CAG a multi-member body) is under...
11:20 AM, Nov 11, 2012
New Delhi: Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) Vinod Rai on Wednesday slammed the UPA for its decision-making process, calling it "brazen" and "appalling". Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Guragon on Wednesday, Rai said, "The brazenness with which decisions are being taken is absolutely appalling. Look at the CBI. The CBI is not independent of the Executive. That's why very often everybody writes that the CBI has ...
07:31 PM, Nov 08, 2012
New Delhi: Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Tuesday that he intended to work with CAG to erase the impression of adversaries in an attempt to restore trust and confidence in all institutions. Addressing a Comptroller and Auditor (CAG) conference in the national capital, Chidambaram said the official auditor and the government have been cast as adversaries to each other in the aftermath of recent audit findings. "Unfortunately, however, some...
12:08 PM, Oct 09, 2012
