-The Indian Express   The Comptroller and Auditor General of India is being increasingly questioned, as reports emerge about the divisions within the agency on calculating the loss to the public exchequer from the 2G licencing process. The CAG shot for drama in its high-profile press conferences, in which eye-catching numbers were trumpeted that became firmly ensconced in our collective memory. The 2G report was brandished triumphantly, like a World Cup trophy,...

The Nuclear Safety Regulatory Authority Bill is a first step towards granting functional autonomy to the country's nuclear regulator. THE true independence and functional autonomy of the existing Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) has been questioned for long. The issue gained further importance in recent months after it was raised in many quarters in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March in Japan. To allay public fears as...

-The Times of India   What prompted the Comptroller and Auditor General from not quantifying the losses to the exchequer in the KG Basin contract and Air India decisions may never be known. But from the way the federal auditor conducted itself on the day the reports were tabled one thing was clear-- there seems to be a rethink about the posture adopted by the constitutional authority in recent months. From its almost devil-may-care...

In the backdrop of the Comptroller and Auditor General's scathing reports on award of 2G telecom licences and projects related to the Commonwealth Games, an extra-cautious Ministry of Home Affairs is seeking the audit of the processes of the proposed Rs 30,000-crore housing project for the paramilitary forces by the country's statutory auditor. This would be the first instance of pre-award scrutiny by the CAG. "We have received the reference,"...

-The Business Standard   Asking questions does not amount to passing judgements Just as correlation does not establish causation, asking questions does not amount to passing judgements. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) is an important constitutional office that has a role to play in improving governance. However, going beyond one’s brief can always harm an institution in the long run and be counterproductive. An auditor’s dharma is to see if...