House has to decide probe,our report just the start: CAG

He rejected the suggestion that the CAG was being obstructive and should not get in way of policy. “Of course,policy formulation is the sole prerogative of the executive and Parliament. But it is our right to look at,and examine,if that policy has been properly implemented upon. Whether the country has lost in that process is for us to look at,” he said.

With the CAG marking 150 years of its existence this year,Rai called for a review and expansion of its role.

“The audit bill mandate of 1971 makes our job quite limited. The 73rd and 74th amendments introducing Panchayati Raj happened after our role was defined. As a lot of money now flows from government through development programmes like JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission),MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) and even SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan),through not just panchayats but NGOs and takes the PPP (public-private partnership) route,there is an increasingly limited sum that goes through regular government channels that we get to audit.”

Rai said there was need for a new legislation that allowed auditing beyond the agencies currently under its ambit. “While Parliament and MPs clear massive amount of expenditure in the course of passing the budget,a lot of development funds are spent through the PPP route,NGOs or panchayats,all not audited by us… while they clear the expenditure,Parliament is not really overseeing all of that expenditure. We need to have our mandate broadened to ensure that the country does not lose.”

Another area of concern for the CAG is the time taken by government departments and personnel to respond to its queries. “In the RTI-era,when a common man has access to government information,in a time-bound way,with penalties tagged on if they don’t answer soon enough,we would want some rules to be enforced that we are able to procure responses within a timeframe from the government departments we send queries to,” he said.

“We have taken the initiative to look into irregularities and issues with how money for the CWG (Commonwealth Games) was spent,even if technically speaking,a lot of it was spent through non-government agencies. We are also looking at the Krishna-Godavari gas fields and how money has been spent there. The private companies involved took a lot of time to answer our queries. Their argument was that they were getting private audits done and as they weren’t government bodies,they did not owe anything to show their accounts to the CAG. But our logic is that what these private companies have been given to explore is a public and national good,so they are accountable to the public,” Rai said.

The report on explorations and pricing in the gas fields is expected to be out early next year.