Comptroller and Auditor General

Comptroller and Auditor General of India is the Highest Auditing Authority in India, Established by Constitution of India. It Celebrated 150 Years of existence on 16^th November 2010.

Need for Auditing body was first Realized by British way back in 1858 after the transfer of Company rule to the Hands of Crown Rule. Thus an Highest Auditing Authority as  Auditor General was set up in 1860.

In 1950 it was renamed and Accepted as Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

CAG is Also Head of Indian Audits and Accounts Department. Together Both CAG  Audits and accounts department constitute Supreme Audit Institution of India (SAI)

Who Appoints CAG?

President of India based on recommendation by Prime Minister. Current CAG is Vinod Rai.

Constitutional Provision for CAG:

Articles 148 to 151 of Indian Constitution Define the Role of CAG.

Roles and Responsibilities:

Audit all the Expenditures of Union and state Governments along with the Auditing of all the Authorities companies (Like ONGC, SAIL etc) Enterprises etc which receive Finance by Govt.

It has to Probe whether the Expenditures of the Government and other bodies mentioned above are proper.

Recent works of CAG has been Commendable, due to which the series of Scams Like 2G, CWG, till the most recent one Coal Block allocations came to light.

Reports of CAG:

CAG will submit its report to President of India, who in turn Tables the report in Parliament and then the Report goes onto Review by Public accounts committee.

Finally:

The Importance of CAG came to be realized lately after 2G and other scams.The existance of such an High profile Office came to limelight only after these scams.

Being guard of Public funds, not every report of CAG gets publicity.There is a need that Political class improvises its Governance policies based on CAG's reports.
Also They should allow more effective and open debate on C&AG reports, as people have the rights to know, after all its Public fund.

The office of CAG should not be insulted, instead it should be Strengthened further so that Transparency in Governance is ensured.

Prime minister and other Politicians who are criticizing the CAG’s Methods and reports, instead should strive for Encouraging such an esteem body to Work fearlessly and effectively.