Comptroller And Auditor General Cag

AAP govt's Delhi excise policy caused Rs 2,000 crore loss: CAG report

New BJP dispensation has promised to table in the Assembly 13 more such reports

Additional expense of Rs 10.2 cr by Kerala to buy PPE kit during Covid: CAG

Despite having prescribed unit rates for PPE kits at Rs 545 to control prices, the government procured kits at much higher rates, up to 300 per cent above the unit rate, in March and April 2020

Upgrading India's auditing standards will boost credibility: NFRA chief

Aligning India's auditing with global standards will help boost investors' confidence, attract more funds and ensure greater credibility to the financial data, National Financial Reporting Authority's chief Ajay Bhushan Prasad Pandey has said. He also asserted that the country cannot have "inferior standards" when the pursuit is to become a "Viksit Bharat". NFRA was constituted under the company's law in October 2018. The watchdog has passed more than 80 orders. In a recent interview, Pandey told PTI that there are certain gaps in existing auditing standards and that internationally, many standards were updated to address loopholes that had led to various scams. "In India, we are yet to update the standards in various areas. In the last 20 years, many of these standards are there in most parts of the world. We want to become Viksit Bharat, and our standards should also be aligned with global standards. We cannot have inferior standards," the NFRA Chairperson said. According to him

After taking oath at Rashtrapati Bhawan, K Murthy takes charge as CAG

K Sanjay Murthy, former higher education secretary, on Thursday took charge as the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG). He belongs to Indian Administrative Service of Himachal Pradesh cadre (1989 batch). Murthy succeeds Girish Chandra Murmu, who demitted office on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, Murthy was sworn in as the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India by President Droupadi Murmu at a function in the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Prior to this, Murthy was Secretary, Department of Higher Education in the Ministry of Education. He has also served as Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, and CEO, National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation, and Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Murthy was named the new CAG by the Centre on Monday. Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, and Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, among others, were present at the oath-taking ...

Govt appoints K Sanjay Murthy as next Comptroller and Auditor General

The government on Monday said K Sanjay Murthy will be the next Comptroller and Auditor General of India. Murthy, a 1989 batch IAS officer of Himachal Pradesh cadre, will succeed Girish Chandra Murmu. He is currently Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education. "By virtue of the power vested in her by clause (1) of article 148 of the Constitution of India, the President has been pleased to appoint K Sanjay Murthy to be the Comptroller and Auditor General of India with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office," said a notification issued by the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance. Girish Chandra Murmu assumed office as the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on August 8, 2020. He will complete his term on November 20.

CAG plans to develop its own AI for fast writing of audit reports

Comptroller and Auditor General of India G C Murmu on Wednesday said the supreme audit institution is in the process of developing its own Artificial Intelligence (AI) protocol for faster writing of its audit reports. "For data analysis and various other things, we have our own system in place...for the writing (audit reports) we have now started, so we have to see," he said here. "Data is collected by our auditors at the field from the records...in some cases, we have to reclassify according to our requirement. For that we run analytics...cleaning is done through the analytics," he said. Once cleaning of data is done and classification and integration made as per the requirement, he said, adding that algorithm biases are hardly there in analysing data. He said about 35 audit reports would be tabled in both Parliament and state assemblies during the upcoming winter session. About 200 reports are presented in a year by the office of CAG. Speaking about 16th Assembly of the Asian .

FinMin must identify high risk taxpayers in GST composition scheme: CAG

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has asked the Finance Ministry to identify high risk taxpayers in the GST composition scheme on a periodical basis and verify from other sources, including third parties, their declared value of sales to check tax evasion. Based on an analysis of 8.66 lakh composition taxpayers under the central jurisdiction between 2019-20 to 2021-22 fiscals, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) found that a significant number of GST taxpayers have a high risk of crossing the turnover threshold for composition levy scheme (CLS). These high risk taxpayers were identified by audit from the data contained in GST returns viz. GSTR-4A, GSTR-7 along with third party data sources such as IT returns, 'Vahan' database etc. The GST composition scheme is available to taxpayers whose aggregate turnover, in the preceding financial year, has not exceeded Rs 1.5 crore. For taxpayers in special category states, this limit is Rs 75 lakh. The CAG said two major risk ar

CAG flags shortage of healthcare staff and irregularities in Chhattisgarh

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has highlighted the shortage of government healthcare personnel and irregularities in the procurement of medicines and medical equipment in Chhattisgarh. The CAG report on performance audit of Public Health Infrastructure and Management of Health Services for the year ended March 2022 was tabled in the state assembly on Friday. There was an overall shortage of 34 per cent (25,793 personnel) against the sanctioned strength of 74,797 in the health department, it said. Though the doctor per population ratio (1: 2492) improved during 2016-22, it was far behind the WHO benchmark of one doctor for 1,000 people and national ratio of 1:1456. The posts of doctors were not sanctioned uniformly on the basis of population, resulting in uneven distribution of doctors under the Directorate Health Services across districts, the CAG said. In 23 district hospitals, there was a shortage of specialist doctors (33 per cent), medical officers (four per cent) ..

Poor planning, mgmt delayed projects in Patna Smart Cities Mission: CAG

The deficient financial management, poor planning and inclusion of unfeasible projects resulted in delayed or incomplete execution of projects under the Smart Cities Mission in Patna, the CAG said in a report. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) said that "unfeasible projects" were included in the list of 44 initially approved projects, indicating "poor planning on the part of Patna Smart City Limited (PSCL) and the Urban Development and Housing Department (UD&HD) of Bihar government". "This ultimately resulted in delayed/incomplete execution of projects. The financial management of PSCL was also deficient, as funds had been diverted for unapproved projects and incorrect utilisation certificates had been submitted," said the compliance audit report of the CAG for the year ended March 31, 2022, which was tabled in the Bihar assembly on Thursday. The contract management for the mission was also poor as the complete scheme did not fulfil the desired objectives, it ...

CAG considering tax concessions as 'presumptive loss' not fair: Subbarao

If tax concessions announced by the government are treated as 'presumptive loss' by federal auditor Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), it would diminish democracy and not enhance it, opined former RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao. Subbarao, who held various positions including the Union finance secretary, wrote in his new book titled 'Just A Mercenary?: Notes from My Life and Career' about his involvement in the decision-making on the pricing of the 2G spectrum, an issue that embroiled the UPA-2 government amid charges of mammoth corruption. "If a democratically elected government decides to forego revenue in order to serve the larger public good of deepening telecom penetration, is it open to the CAG to substitute his own judgement for the government's and call it a 'presumptive loss'?" he asked. Subbarao was responding to a question on the 2G scam case and the CAG's investigation of the presumptive loss to the government during the UPA-2 period. "If the CAG is allowed t

Audit plays catalytic role in promoting efficiency, effectiveness: CAG

Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) Girish Chandra Murmu on Friday said that the objectives of the audit are not merely to find out the deviations, non-compliance and fault finding in lawful decision-making but to promote efficiency and effectiveness also. Speaking at the SRCC Business Conclave here, the CAG said different types of audit are taken up against the extant policies, rules, and standards prevalent at the time of audit. Murmu stated that accountability, transparency, efficiency and effectiveness are assertions that are tested in audit. Such independent checks on the functioning of the government provide credibility to the executive and confidence to the public at large, he said, and added securing accountability of the government protects its fiscal stability and its image globally. "Although accountability does not start and end with audit, it emphasises the need to fix responsibility for healthy governance. Different types of audits, as mentioned, promote ..

Railways had to spend over Rs 75 cr extra due to delays: PAC report

Delay in the provisioning of Availability Based Tariff (ABT) Metres by the West Central Railway resulted in an additional expenditure of Rs 75.10 crore on power purchase, according to a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report. The committee, which tabled its report in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, said the Railway Ministry had issued instructions in March 2015 to all zonal railways to get direct power from generating companies through open access and ensure the provision of ABT metres. The Ministry's instructions were aimed at reducing the traction tariff to optimise the unit cost of transportation. "Despite entering into an agreement in March 2016 under open access, power supply commenced only from January 2017 mainly due to a delay in the provisioning of ABT metres.The delay in shifting to open access resulted in an extra expenditure on power purchase amounting to Rs 75.10 crore," the report, which was based on a Comptroller and Auditor General of India report laid in Parliament in .

A grand conspiracy or a massive scam?

The Union government has withheld MNREGS and PMAY funds -two centrally sponsored schemes - because of procedural lapses, alleged corruption

Kejriwal directs audit of DJB by CAG amid allegations of financial bungling

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said an audit of the Delhi Jal Board's records by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has been ordered to ascertain whether there has been any irregularity. Interacting with reporters, he warned that there could be a water and sewage crisis in Delhi in the coming days owing to the non-release of funds. A couple of weeks ago, Delhi Water Minister Atishi had claimed the national capital was staring at a 'man-made water crisis' due to the stoppage of funds to the Delhi Jal Board by the finance department and demanded Lt Governor V K Saxena's immediate intervention in the matter. Kejriwal, on Wednesday, said, "We have ordered a CAG audit of the last 15 years of records of the Delhi Jal Board. CAG is a third party and the biggest agency in the country. Things will become clearer now." "If someone has committed irregularities, they should be punished. If no irregularities have been committed, then those who level baseless allegations will

Audit institutions should be aware of AI technology, says CAG Murmu

CAG Murmu also inaugurated the Supreme Audit Institutions-20 (SAI20) engagement group meeting in Goa as part of India's G20 presidency

CAG Girish Murmu re-elected as external auditor of WHO for 4-year term

Comptroller and Auditor General of India Girish Chandra Murmu was on Monday overwhelmingly reelected as the external auditor of the World Health Organization (WHO) for a four-year term from 2024 to 2027. CAG is already holding this position in WHO for a four-year term from 2019 to 2023. "The present election was held on May 29, 2023 in the 76th World Health Assembly in Geneva, where the CAG of India was re-elected with an overwhelming majority (114 out of 156 votes) in the first round of voting itself," the CAG said in a statement in New Delhi. Tanzania received 42 votes. Seventy-nine votes were required for the majority. CAG's appointment is a recognition of its standing among the international community as well as its professionalism, high standards, global audit experience and strong national credentials, it added. "This resounding victory was made possible by the sustained support and tireless efforts of the Permanent Representative of India to The United Nations at Geneva, h

Resources need to be efficiently utilised to make India developed: CAG

Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) Girish Chandra Murmu has emphasised that India's resources have to be efficiently utilised for the country to become a fully developed nation. Speaking at a conclave on the Management Issues in Railway Public Enterprises on Tuesday, he said that India is already the fastest-growing major economy in the world. "It has one of the largest railway networks, which is crucial to the country's overall transport and logistic planning. "While the Railways has a lot of responsibilities and makes immense contributions to the economy, the conclave will enable us to hold more meaningful interactions to create an efficient economy," the CAG said. Murmu said that every government entity has been created with an intention and certain corporations have been created for special purposes. But at the end, we must achieve a meaningful reform. There should be accountability and responsibility in terms of financial accounting and performance accounting. We ..

G20 presidency: CAG team reviews preparations for SAI20 meet in Goa

A six member team from the Comptroller Auditor General of India (CAG) visited Goa to review preparations for the upcoming Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI20) meet scheduled to held in mid-June as part of India's G20 presidency, an official said on Friday. The meet of the Supreme Audit Institutions or SAI20, a group of audit organizations from G20 countries that promotes good governance, transparency and accountability, will be held in the coastal state between June 12 and 14, the official said. "As part of India's presidency of the G20, Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) Girish Chandra Murmu will chair the SAI20 for the year 2023. This gives India an opportunity to play a leadership role in promoting good governance and accountability in the public sector," he said. "India will hold the second meeting of the two scheduled SAI20 meetings as part of the G20 summit in Goa from June 12 to 14, 2023. The first meeting for senior officials of SAI20 member nations and the World .

CAG red flags slow development of hydro power projects in Jammu and Kashmir

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) said out of 374 identified project sites with power generation capacity of 1,725.53 MegaWatts, only 10 projects with 79.75 MW capacity had been commissioned with time overrun ranging between four months and seven years. The hydro power potential of Jammu and Kashmir has been estimated at 20,000 MW which includes 1,500 MW in respect of small hydro projects. As of October 2021, only 2,813.46 MW (16 per cent) of this potential had been harnessed, which included 79.75 MW of small hydro projects. "The main objective of hydro policy for small hydro project/mini hydro projects for expeditious development of available hydro power of Jammu and Kashmir was not achieved. Out of 374 identified project sites with power generation capacity of 1,725.53 MWs, only 10 projects with capacity of 79.75 MWs (five per cent) had been commissioned with time overrun ranging between four months and over seven years," the CAG said in its report tabled in the parliament

All governments are crony capitalists

The Adani saga has dented the government's image of incorruptibility. But it is doubtful whether the cronyism embedded in India's economic fabric will disappear anytime soon