The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a PIl to set aside the appointment of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Shashi Kant Sharma and refrained from framing guidelines to the constitutional process of selecting CAG, which is currently an exclusive exercise of the executive. The Bench headed by Chief Justice Hl Dattu rejected the demand made in the PIl filed by former CEC Gopalaswami and eight others to make the selection and appointment process of CAG more transparent and non-arbitrary. The petition found fault with Sharma’s selection as it could lead to “conflict of interest” in scrutinising several Defence purchase deals cleared during the tenure of Sharma as Defence Secretary.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan argued the PIl on the principle of transparency and fairness as upheld by the Supreme Court in past decisions including the one by which selection of former CVC PJ Thomas was set aside. CAG was a constitutional appointment and sadly there are no qualifications prescribed under the Constitution to select and nominate CAG, Bhushan added, urging the Court to frame guidelines to ensure that appointments to such posts are given wide publicity.