About the Book
Book: CAG
Author: P. SESH KUMAR
Publisher: White Falcon Publishing
Price: Rs 799/-
Auditors most often cite the statement of B. R. Ambedkar that the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India is the most important official. Over the decades, the CAG emerged as India’s highly respected institution. The people also look upon the CAG to keep a check on the executive by preparing no-holds-barred reports. P. Sesh Kumar spent decades in the office of the CAG. Hailing from the Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IAAS), Kumar gained a ringside view of the functioning of the CAG. He, thus, has expectations on him to reveal if the CAG is facing new challenges.
The CAG made a comeback to the popular discourse over tabling of reports in the Delhi Assembly. Else, the CAG had almost faded from the popular discourse in the recent years. Kumar examines sharp reduction in number of reports of the CAG since 2011. He notes that the CAG reports peaked in 2015 when a total of 52 reports were submitted on Union government. Afterwards, reports turned to trickle, coming down to just 15 in 2018. Kumar after retirement has come out with an inside account of the functioning of the CAG. His book ‘CAG Ensuring Accountability Amidst Controversies: An Inside View’ deals with several turning points in the journey of the top auditor of India. The book also dwells upon the tenure of Vinod Rai and takes a critical view of the famous “presumptive losses to the exchequer” shown in the reports during the last few years of the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government. Kumar indeed also cites the gains made by the government with the course corrections in policy making after the CAG reports were made public.
In 17 chapters, Kumar’s book gives an exhaustive account of the history, current controversies, challenges, and also a reform roadmap. The book critically examines the tenures of Rajiv Mehrishi and GC Murmu as CAG.The author also brings out concerns in the IAAS cadre over the manner in which some of the CAG reports were handled. He details unhappiness in the cadre of auditors over the manner in which the report on the collections of tolls on national highways were handled by the CAG. Kumar stresses that the CAG report on the collections of tolls on national highways listed timely reform roadmap also for policy actions by the government.
But the people are genuinely concerned over the CAG not going public with its reports. Kumar answers the people’s curiosity by examining in details the Supreme Court judgment that termed the CAG reports as “mere views” until they are tabled by Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of parliament or Assemblies. This explains why the CAG is not going public with reports after submitting them to parliament or Assemblies.
Taking a ringside view, the book argues that the CAG is not mandated to be a property of the PAC that its reports can wait endlessly to go public. The CAG is accountable to the people, and, therefore, the top auditor should move to the Supreme Court to review the judgment. Kumar details that almost half the reports of the CAG are awaiting action on the parts of the PAC of parliament and Assemblies for the people to know about them. If the CAG reports
are not made public, the Constitution’s arrangements of checks and balances for the healthy functioning of democracy too gets affected, suggests the book. It argues that the people need to know about the CAG reports to make informed decisions.
Besides, Kumar also raises a pertinent question on the appointment of the CAG. A single member CAG may be susceptible to personal biases, he argues, while suggesting that a multi-member top auditor body should be constituted. Kumar calls for Constitutional changes so that an appointment committee on the lines of the Election Commission and the Director of the CBI can also decide the members of the CAG. Kumar revisits some of the major controversies over the CAG reports. The CAG report on Bofors Scam in 1989 sets the backdrop for the political slugfest in the PAC in not recommending actions on the report to parliament. The book also exhaustively dwells upon the CAG reports on 2G spectrum allocations, Coal blocks, Rafale deal, and many others.
Kumar’s book, published by White Falcon Publishing, is a complete account of the functioning of the CAG, while also seeking space as a historical document. Until 1978, CAG was appointed from among IAS and IAAS, writes Kumar in the book, while making a case for reopening the post for non-IAS officials also. The book makes for an interesting read while also being an important document on the functioning of the CAG.