This refers to the report “SC dismisses PIL on CAG powers” (October 2). The Supreme Court’s response to the Presidential reference in the 2G spectrum case was misinterpreted by United Progressive Alliance spokespersons as a free hand to the government for arbitrary allocation of natural resources and restriction on the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) from investigating the case.
The court has now cleared the air by specifically saying that scrutinising the effective use of resources is the primary duty of the CAG. In fact, the court would not look into cases involving irregularities in policy implementation suo motu unless they are brought to its notice. It is the CAG’s constitutional mandate to look into the government’s accounts regularly and report cases in which either public funds have not been utilised in a transparent manner or optimum revenue generation has not been achieved. It is for the government to justify its action in such cases and for Parliament to accept or reject the CAG’s report.
M C Joshi Lucknow
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