There is no gainsaying that men, ideas, vested interests and consequences, inter alia, do form the warp and woof of many institutions throughout the world. The history of any institution can be penned in terms of interplay of these concepts which can also account for aberrations, if any, in the behaviour of institutions
Dedication — I dedicate this article to thousands of employees of all cadres in Indian Audit & Accounts Department across the country, but for whose ceaseless hard work, efforts and devotion, Audit reports are never possible.
Historically and contemporarily, world over, both societies and institutions, with their immutable linkages, have been needing a historian’s perspective, insight and language to be of candid expression to a layman. When it comes to think of subtlety and truthfulness of such narratives, a name crops up inescapably: John Kenneth Galbraith, one of the most excogitative writers of last century. Galbraith, not a storyteller (his being a historian not in dispute), never lets his readers suffer the absence of a storyteller and a literary artist. His readers feel as if they are sailing through a long tale spanning over decades, sometimes even centuries reflecting on numerous presences and occasional absences. In him, we meet a classy world of anecdotes, historical incidents, great inequalities, personal ambitions, idiosyncrasies, cliques, social ideas and recollections of his rendezvous with some of the world leaders. His “The Age of Uncertainty” is such a book where a few themes, inter alia, are used to explain societies and institutions.
To begin with, Galbraith clarified the title: The Age of Uncertainty. It is about great uncertainties of twentieth century as contrasted with great certainties of nineteenth century with little of those certainties surviving. With this basic theme, Galbraith moved to other theme: Ideas. He admitted, “…ideas are important not only for themselves but also for explaining or interpreting social behaviour.” Ideas at any time in history guide people and government and shape history of that time. He treated ideas in two parts: first, the men and the ideas and, second, their consequences or impact on society. This is the sequence as a whole for the book. But Galbraith, as unsated as ever, hungered for more. He shifted, in due course, his analysis from “men” to “consequences” and “ideas” to “institutions”. While talking of all these, that great voyager for truth and trust, never forgot to talk of “vested interests” the role of which in any institution, he was gravely aware of.
Let us see what he said about vested interest: “And we had best not close our eyes too completely to the idea of vested interest. People have an enduring tendency to protect what they have, justify what they want to have. And their tendency is to see as right the ideas that serve such purpose. Ideas may be superior to vested interest. They are also very often the children of vested interest.” Amid the generally gloomy picture painted, much later in the book we come across Galbraithian optimism, “…problems can be solved by the collective responsibility and intelligence of the people themselves. It is that responsibility and intelligence that count”.
There is no gainsaying that men, ideas, vested interests and consequences, inter alia, do form the warp and woof of many institutions throughout the world. The history of any institution can be penned in terms of interplay of these concepts which can also account for aberrations, if any, in the behaviour of institutions. While the reference to Galbraith’s book being an aside, the book, in general, spells out a format for analysis useful in approaching questions and seeking answers.
Moving to the principal subject of this article, it is known that the institution of Comptroller and Auditor General (Indian Audit & Accounts Department, IA&AD) comes under overall control of CAG of India appointed under the Constitution. All powers concerning audit, administrative, financial, etc, are vested in the CAG. Let us look at some important provisions.
Article 151 of the Constitution reads as follows:
“The reports of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India relating to the accounts of the Union shall be submitted to the President, who shall cause them to be laid before each House of Parliament.
The reports of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India relating to the accounts of a State shall be submitted to the Governor of the State, who shall cause them to be laid before the Legislature of the State.”
Section 21 of Duties, Powers, and Conditions of Service Act (DPC Act) 1971 reads as below:
“Any power exercisable by the Comptroller and Auditor General under the provisions of this Act, or any other law may be exercised by such officer of his department as may be authorised by him in this behalf by general or special order.
Provided that, except during the absence of the Comptroller and Auditor-General on leave or otherwise, no officer shall be authorised to submit on behalf of Comptroller and Auditor General any report which the Comptroller and Auditor General is required by the Constitution or the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963 to submit to the President or the Governor of a State or the Administrator of Union Territory having a Legislative Assembly as the case may be.”
Chapter 11 (140) of Regulations on Audit and Accounts 2020 reads as below:
‘The form, content and time of submission of audit reports shall be decided by the Comptroller and Auditor General.”
Thus, all officers and staff below him work under delegated powers of CAG and are rudderless without him. These provisions, read together, and many more give the organisation a monolithic structure.
Over decades, the organisation has flourished and enjoyed considerable name and fame under the able guidance of widely experienced different CAGs. Personnel working under the CAG right up to senior most Deputy CAG have enjoyed the guidance, insight and foresight bestowed by the respective CAG and in turn they have given their best to any CAG in the performance of the responsibility assigned to him under the Constitution. In their respective roles, they help the CAG in discharging his accountability ultimately to the nation: to the aam aadmi the utilisation of whose taxed money he is constitutionally required to audit and offer comments. It hardly requires any reiteration that the organisation has very robust system of processing of material, evolved over decades, both at the level of field offices and headquarters before audit findings are put up to CAG for his approval. Approval of audit reports by any CAG brings laurels to the field offices as the hard and sustained work of thousands of unknown/unseen staff at different levels in these offices get ultimate recognition at the highest level within the organisation.
The CAG is appointed for a period of six years or up to the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. Needless to mention for the period a CAG holds the post, s/he is duty bound to address the requirements stipulated in the Constitution. He takes oath. None of his subordinates, though all working under delegated powers, can substitute for him as far as his constitutional duties are concerned. Only the CAG can take a final view on audit and decide about the material going into Audit Reports before he countersigns the Reports which are signed by respective heads of field offices like Principal Accountant General/Director General. Thus no audit finding is final unless it has the approval of CAG and it features in Audit Reports. Only the CAG can finally decide what and how much to place before the Parliament, Committees and ultimately the common citizens. This distinguishes the CAG from his subordinates making him the most important person in the institution. Constitution confers on the CAG that privileged position: a duty, a responsibility and ultimately a faith which founding fathers of the Constitution reposed in him/her. Over the last more than forty years, successive governments, in turn, have reposed faith in Indian Administrative Service officers who they have thought would duly meet the requirements of the Constitution and fulfil the expectations flowing from the Constitution.
Recently some self-explanatory articles appeared in print/online media (for example-The Caravan (March 2021), Wire (July 2020 and March 2021), The New Indian Express (March 2021) about systemic slowing of the process during the last few years, which led to significant delay and decline, vis-à-vis preceding many years, in number of audit reports. After reading these articles, a natural question arises in anyone’s mind. What about the responsibility of the institution particularly the officers who are in charge of ultimately processing audit material and putting these to the CAG for approval??
While I leave answer to this question to the citizenry of the country who can draw their own conclusions given the aforementioned provisions, an episode my memory retains edges out to be in place.
A few years back, I got an opportunity to call on one stalwart from IA&AS who superannuated long back as Additional Deputy CAG, (a post, for the sake of brevity referred to as ADAI. This, of course, is my supposition.). He was full of fond memories of his days in the department. Recalling his period in CAG office, he told me when he was ADAI in charge of some audit reports, one of the reports got stuck with late TN Chaturvedi, the then CAG. Chaturvedi had a scholarly temperament and was known to be fiercely independent. That ADAI went to Chaturvedi’s chamber and requested him to clear the report at his earliest. Chaturvedi called for the report and told him, “You have read it. It’s as good as I have read it.” And then he signed the report. “Trust”. Yes, it was the bond that was there. If there was one Chaturvedi, then there was an ADAI of that stature with his vast accumulated experience in different field offices in the country. He had a formidable reputation which in turn gave him the confidence of meeting any one of Chaturvedi’s observations himself on the spot, if required. More importantly, Chaturvedi knew it too. That facilitated his prompt decision.
Do these articles not elevate discussion to a higher level by throwing a few significant questions meriting serious consideration? These do. Let me proceed with a hypothetical example.
(To be concluded: Watch this space)
(KK Srivastava, an officer of Indian Audit & Accounts Service of 1983 batch, superannuated as Additional Deputy Comptroller & Auditor General in July 2020. He is a poet, writer and columnist. Author of three volumes of poetry, his poems have been translated into Hindi (Andhere Se Nikli Kavitayen-VANI PRAKASHAN (2017) and his book “Shadows of the Real” into Russian by veteran Russian poet Adolf Shvedchikov. His fourth book “Soliloquy of a Small-Town Uncivil Servant”, a literary non-fiction published in March 2019 by Rupa Publications, New Delhi, has been receving international acclaim in literary field. His fifth book: a book of essays is expected shortly. Views expressed here are his personal views)
