Keep it factual-8/8/11Like a mild-mannered accountant turned superhero,CAG office has suddenly become d face of India’s battle with public Corruption

Keep it factual/
Rakesh Bhatnagar: Why not arm CAG with judicial powers?


Like a mild-mannered accountant turned superhero, the office of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India has suddenly become the face of India’s battle with public corruption. The CAG is constitutionally mandated to audit the revenues and expenditures of the Union and state governments, and it has been an impressively professional institution through the decades, playing a vital role in keeping government transparent. Of late, however, given the national mood of strong recoil against corruption, every announcement by the CAG has become a media event, with any observation seized for its potential to fell a political adversary.

Those reading these reports tend to leap to large conclusions — and our lack of literacy about words like “overrun” and “indictment” further agitates public discourse. Instead of being sober audits of government receipts and expenditures, CAG reports are being brandished by political parties — whether the BJP crying itself hoarse over the Commonwealth Games transactions or the Congress using it as a tool against Mayawati. Given the intense polarisation in Parliament, even passing, technical mentions can be twisted out of context and used as political ammo. Even Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, to whom the CAG submits its findings, has been knocked about in this political tussle. It doesn’t help that several of the CAG’s newsmaking reports, and their wider interpretation, tend to blur the lines between policy, procedure and malfeasance. After all, auditors cannot enter into administrative decisions and trace blame to individual actions, without a sophisticated understanding of each department and enterprise (like civil aviation or sports events) and its spending choices. Their reports must, therefore, be meticulously worded, leaving minimal room for misreading.

Given the CAG’s stature, it must be wary of being used as a tool for political point-scoring. It should also be cautious about straying into commenting on policy, which remains the prerogative of democratic governments. Instead of stepping in with advice on sensible spending (to Mayawati) or how to rationalise freight and passenger tariffs (to the railway ministry) or criticising the Indian coast guard for its unpreparedness during 26/11, the CAG might do better to concentrate on its own constitutional remit.