Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | What Ails CAG, and What Can Be Done? -BP Mathur

What Ails CAG, and What Can Be Done? -BP Mathur

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Dec 28, 2018   modified Modified on Dec 28, 2018
-Centre for Financial Accountability blog

The institution of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in India is patterned on the British model. In Britain, The Exchequer & Audit Department Act of 1866 created the office of CAG with a view to strengthen democracy and exercise parliamentary control over national finances. The office of CAG came into being, thanks to the missionary zeal of William Gladstone who was Finance Minister at the time and later became the Prime Minister. CAG was required to audit expenditure and report to the Parliament. This solved the dilemma which had baffled the Parliament for years, ‘whether the expenditure is to be controlled by in-expert parliamentarians or expert non-parliamentarians’.

After India became independent, it framed a new Constitution and established the position of CAG in its constitutional scheme. CAG was required to audit public expenditure and report to the Parliament. It also had to make the executive accountable for use of public money, granted to it through budgetary allocations. Over the years, the role of government has substantially increased due to development planning and embracing the philosophy of a welfare state, resulting in a multi-fold increase in public expenditure. In keeping with the new demands, CAG has diversified its activities. It has entered the arena of the performance audit, revenue audit and audit of PSUs (public sector undertakings) and autonomous bodies which are substantially funded by the government.

Despite these initiatives, CAG faces the formidable challenge of putting in place a mechanism to ensure accountability in the use of public money of the central and state governments. There are many publicly-funded institutions which evade audit. The government has embarked on new activities such as public-private partnership while leaving loopholes in the arrangement, which enables avoidance of public audit. Further, a good part of government’s transactions have been computerised – they are prone to cyber attacks and computer frauds.

The existing institutional arrangement of the office of CAG does not seem capable of meeting current day challenges of public audit. That’s primarily because it has not changed its administrative structure inherited from the colonial times and is virtually caught in a time warp. It is a highly centralised behemoth, with no delegation of duties to hundreds of field offices spread throughout India. It lacks professionalism and is devoid of effective power to prevent misuse and loss of public money and resources.

Please click here to read more.

Centre for Financial Accountability blog, 27 December, 2018, http://www.cenfa.org/blog/what-ails-cag-and-what-can-be-done/


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close