-The Times of India The government on Thursday sought to play down this paper's report of March 22 which stated that the Comptroller and Auditor General had estimated in its 110-page draft report that the coal ministry's decision to award 155 coal acreages without competitive bidding had led to "undue benefits" of Rs 10.67 lakh crore to private and public firms. With the report creating a storm in Parliament, leading to adjournment...

-The Times of India The government has been unable to explain why public sector firms imported pulses at a loss of 21%-30% a year from 2006 to 2011 adding up to Rs 1,200 crore, while private importers did not appear to have suffered such a misfortune. Questioned by Parliament's Public Accounts Committee about the " pulses scam" revealed in a Comptroller and Auditor General report, senior commerce and consumer affairs officials has...

-The Indian Express The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has got a toehold in the auditing process of Research & Analysis Wing (RAW), India’s premier intelligence agency. In directions issued by the cabinet secretariat earlier this month, RAW has been told to submit a copy of its annual internal audit report to CAG. The report is prepared by a senior officer of the Indian Audit Service. A series of follow-up steps are...

Liquor baron Ponty Chadha’s mercurial rise is all ‘Maya’ A reclusive liquor baron may seem like an anomaly in these never-ending good times. But Gurdeep Singh Chadha—better known by the moniker Ponty Chadha—fits the bill. Often called “Mayawati’s financier”, the 57-year-old Ponty has been making large (if silent) waves for the political patronage he enjoys in Uttar Pradesh. Any bottle of liquor sold in India’s most populous state goes through his...

The Comptroller and Auditor General’s Report on the 2G Spectrum has created a great deal of controversy and his role is being questioned. The Public Accounts Committee could not finalise its report due to the splitting on the issue on party lines. The JPC currently examining the matter has taken an unprecedented step of taking evidence of a junior officer of the CAG’s set up, since retired, and quizzed the...