A two-day long conference of chairpersons of Public Accounts Committees (PACs) has recommended immediate amendments to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India CAG Act of 1971 so that the country’s high-profile chief auditor is made accountable to the legislature.

This move could spark off a major debate on ‘attempts’ to dilute the powers of the vis-a-vis the powers of Parliament and the government.

“The CAG of India is not accountable today even for lapses and certain irregularities it commits in its audit report itself,” Nishikant Dubey, a Member of Parliament from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party said in presence of K V Thomas, chairman of Parliament’s PAC.

The two leaders were talking to media after the conference attended by chairpersons of Public Accounts Committees of parliament and state legislatures. The Lok Sabha convened the two-day conference after 14 years.

What’s the entire game all about? Who really wants to control CAG?

The reference about CAG-PAC equations did not come out of the blue. In fact on the inaugural address, none other than the Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had laid down certain roadmap when she said discussions could happen on “complimentary and supplementary” role of the two institutions.

New power games!!

Just a few years back, we had a completely different story. The CAG was supposed to be most credible institution in the country and its findings 1,760 billion rupee loss due to scam in 2G scam and later 1,860 billion rupee coal block allocation irregularities were taken as Gospel’s truth!

The backgrounder of course is, that the fungus of corruption had “eaten into all spheres of life” in India and the country was made to believe it’s the CAG which will tame the wrong doers. Coincidentally, the Congress fell prey to the machinations!

The general belief was that India’s CAG is the new institute which will display certain neo-activism. The auditor’s report on Commonwealth Games and others for the first time pointed fingers squarely at the Prime Minister’s Office, ironically then run by an economist-PM who was also credited for ‘honesty’.

Now the game seemed to have changed!

“During 15th Lok Sabha a suggestion was made by the then PAC that the CAG should be part of legislature as in U.K and Australia,” Dubey said adding the issue figured in the two-day conference.

So was it just a formality or a real meeting of minds – where the PAC chiefs sought to give unto themselves more power, more teeth and make governments more accountable to the panel(s).

Thomas said nearly 20 points on issues of powers and jurisdictions of PACs figured during the deliberations and a sub-committee headed by Dubey will study the suggestions and observations made in the meeting to make appropriate recommendations to the concerned authorities including the President, the Prime Minister and the Lok Sabha Speaker.

The panel comprises of other members like B Mahtab of the Biju Janata Dal, and Bhubeneshwar Kalita (Congress).

“This panel will examine all issues involved and likely to recommend amendments in the CAG Act of 1971 to bring the auditor under the jurisdiction of Parliament,” Dubey said.

The PAC headed by Dr Murli Manohor Joshi in 15th Lok Sabha had recommended that the PAC be consulted by the government before the appointment of the CAG.

“The need for complete independence of the CAG making it a part of PAC would add to the harmonious relations between CAG and the PAC,” Dubey said adding the sub-committee will make its recommendations by March 31, 2016.

Dubey replied in negative when asked whether such a move would not dilute the CAG’s autonomous powers, a question raised after the CAG reports on spectrum allotment and coal blocks allocation rocked the previous government.

“Where is the question of dilution of CAG’s powers? The CAG will be only made accountable to the legislature that is Parliament of India and not to any one individual or the institution,” Dubey said.

Thomas said during the deliberations, PAC chairpersons from across the country suggested, among other things, opening the panel deliberations to media except in sensitive cases.”

“The PAC should henceforth also take up examination of expenditures made for Public Private Partnership projects and PAC take suo motu cognizance of issues and also audit the functioning of NGOs,” Thomas said.

The PAC is a permanent body and is constituted by Parliament each year for examination of accounts showing the appropriation of sums granted by Parliament for expenditure of the Government of India. This PAC is incidentally the oldest Parliamentary Committee and was first constituted in 1921. The Committee consists of 22 members — 15 from Lok Sabha and 7 the Rajya Sabha.

The rule book says, the Speaker is empowered to appoint the chairperson of PAC from among its members; but the by convention the chairmanship of PAC is being given to the principal opposition party.

Tail Piece:

Neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor some ‘loud’ TV anchors would be rated as the “most feared Indian”! Left to former Lok Sabha Speaker, P A Sangma, the mild mannered Congress MP, Prof K V Thomas should be called the ‘most feared person’ in the country.

The chairman of the parliament’s Public Accounts Committee is the “most feared person” in the country, the former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma said and maintained that the similar status and importance ought to be attached to the PAC chairpersons at the state level.

“When I was Lok Sabha Speaker during an interaction the then South African President Nelson Mandela told me you (Speaker of Indian Parliament) is the most feared Indian….I had countered him and said Sir, it’s not me…but it is Dr Murli Manohor Joshi, who was then PAC chairman,” Sangma said addressing the valedictory session of the two-day long conference of chairpersons

(Nirendra Dev is Spl. Representative with The Statesman and he blogs at www.bestofindiarestofindia.blogspot.com)