The internal documents of the CAG present a different picture to the one presented by PAC’s chairman Murli Manohar Joshi The chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) tried repeatedly to get the government’s auditor to share with him details of its audit of the controversial allocation of second-generation telecom spectrum in 2008 (known as the 2G scam), according to documents reviewed by Mint. The internal documents of the Comptroller and Auditor...

Exact math used by the government’s auditor in its calculation of losses and the process it followed still unclear The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) may have taken a cue from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) while calculating losses arising from the improper allocation of second-generation spectrum to telecom companies in 2008 (or the so-called 2G scam), according to documents reviewed by Mint. This is not to suggest that the...

State oil firms are under the scanner of the Comptroller & Auditor General of India for supplying diesel at a discount to defense establishments and Indian Railways and claim compensation on the revenue loss from upstream companies and the government. Executives in state-run Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum have accepted that they offer small discounts to these customers and denied recovering any part of the amount from the...

Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has proposed social audits for the centre's big-ticket welfare programmes running under different ministries, on the lines of the scrutiny that he recently mandated for the flagship rural jobs scheme. "The concept has the potential to revolutionise the system. If we can have social audits for three-four major social sector schemes, it will change the way the country functions," Ramesh said. If the proposal is...

All rural schemes will also get a common accounting format; audit to begin with MGNREGS in 12 states At a time when the government is reeling under a number of corruption cases—several of these following critical reports from the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG)—the ministry of rural development has roped in the statutory auditor to conduct a financial, compliance and performance audit of its schemes. All schemes of the ministries...