It is only a CAG who can Fearlessly
Interrogate The Government . That is why the Founding Father of The
Constitution have provided that CAG can not be removed and he has to be removed
in same manner as the Supreme Court Judge . That is the kind of special
security which the Constitution gives to the CAG to ensure the Quality of its
Independence . It is there to ensure the Accountability on the part of
Executive . As Parliament can not actually review the functioning of the
Executive on day to day basis , The Founding Father of Constitution put in
place the CAG with the Virtue & Objectivity and Independence same as that
of Supreme Court Judge.
The Report of CAG would be critically
analysed by Parliament and its Bodies . And , If The Parliament thought that
the CAG had not done its work properly , Parliament & Its bodies could take
it to task . Parliament has Right to
Demand from the CAG Any Explanation Pertaining to its Conduct . Parliament can
Summon CAG and Question CAG . Parliament can ask him and that is why we have a
system of Public Account Committee (PAC) .
The CAG has mandate to Scrutinize Transparency in Procurement and the Way in which the things has been done ,
acting like a watchdog . If a watchdog in not allowed to criticise , then what
kind of Parliamentary Accountability will we ever get ? Its Reports are based
on Records and Policies of Govt. placed before it . It is Not expected to frame
an Alternative Policy by CAG . But we must understand that CAG can Certainly Test
the Present Policy and the Way it is being implemented . That is certainly
within its Mandate . It can certainly go into the Question whether the Govt. of
the day has correctly and in an Accountable manner carried out a pure process
of execution or not .
It is not the first that Performance
Audit is done by CAG . But Yes , The CAG
has gone public . CAG has to looked at the concept of Performance Audit . It is
a Very - Very Subjective opinion and , of course , there is a lot of thinking
about how a Performance Audit has to be done . The CAG has been Transparent
about Performance Audit . A better way may be that , There ought to be more
public consultation bu CAG on this issue . The Govt. must look at CAG Report as
one for introspection and not simply something for Denial . It should not look
at a Report just to Dismiss it . It may Disagree with the Conclusions . There
could be in the Report that should set the Govt. on the Process of Self - Correction .
Further , The existing Constitutional
Institutions should be given an Important Place for Accountability and
Governance . The CAG is Not expected to
be a Silent Spectator . The day , We find the CAG can not Interrogate Govt.
action , CAG meant to be at Arm’s Length from Government . This means that We
are Muzzling another Constitutional Institution . It will be very Detrimental
to Parliamentary form of Democracy . A Mature Parliament will have to put its
head together and find a concrete answer . These are Processes to Correction
and it must Never be discouraged . However Harsh or Extreme , Constitutional
Institutions must to be allow to take place its Sprite in a Democracy .
