The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) received unexpected support from the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee. This comes at a time when the CAG's reports on 2G spectrum allocation and the Commonwealth Games have put the Government in deep trouble.
Responding to a query during the Economic Editors' conference, Mr Mukherjee clarified, “I am making it clear that I do not think that CAG is exceeding its jurisdiction or things like that, because basic responsibility of the CAG is to identify, if there is any, lapse,”
According to him, it is a Constitutional role. It's job is to find out financial irregularities in the context of rules, laws and regulations as laid down by the Government, he added.
However, he said that any remark by the CAG about losses to the Government is not the final word. “It is for the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to examine whether the actual losses have taken place or whether it is a notional loss''.
He also clarified that a CAG report is not automatically accepted by Parliament. The PAC examines it; they submit a report; and then if the report is accepted by Parliament, action takes place.
He said out of 100 things, if 98 are excellent, CAG is not going to point to that, but they just pick up only those two things where some irregularities have taken place.