The CAG's mandate

As auditor to a nation whose institutions of oversight are weak and underdeveloped, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India is more than just the keeper of our national accounts. It is, in many ways, a conscience-keeper and a watchdog, which may not bite but can bark and warn ordinary citizens that something is amiss in the wider affairs of state. Like the Election Commission and the Supreme Court, the CAG has managed to protect its integrity and independence despite pressure from various arms of the state. If conducted freely and fairly, a robust audit can serve as a catalyst for corrective action. The CAG's report on Bofors in 1989 had major political consequences. Its explosive 2010 report on the allocation of 2G spectrum led to the filing of criminal charges against politicians, bureaucrats, and businessmen. Other reports may have had a less dramatic political impact but they have been equally useful. The CAG's observations may be politically embarrassing to the government but they clearly contribute to the public good. Democratic India must ensure that the government takes the work of this constitutionally sanctioned institution very seriously and removes the obstacles placed in the path of a more effective and efficient audit process.

Aware of the limitations of its mandate, the CAG has asked the United Progressive Alliance government to make three broad amendments in the 1971 Audit Act, which governs the functioning of the audit authorities. The first amendment is intended to ensure that government departments reply to audit enquiries in 30 days rather than in the open-ended manner as now. Secondly, the CAG wants the statute to stipulate a clear timeframe for the tabling of completed audit reports on the floor of the relevant legislature. The Act, as it stands today, gives the Central and State governments wide latitude in this regard and it is hardly surprising that this freedom has been abused to delay making public the audit reports that contain embarrassing observations. The third set of proposed amendments is aimed at bringing the CAG's legal mandate up to speed with the changes that have taken place in the way public money is spent. Since the 1971 Act was passed, the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution have been adopted, adding a layer of decentralised governance — and hence expenditure management — to the institutions of the state. Liberalisation has meant public money is increasingly utilised in joint ventures and public-private partnerships. Because of ambiguities in its mandate, the CAG feels unable adequately to audit this vast area of public economic activity. The government should deal with the call for a modernised Audit Act proactively.

Courtesy: Editorial: The Hindu dated: 28th June 2011

Events During the Inaugural Session of 34th Conference

During Inaugural Session a book titled as

" In the Quest For Truth ....... To Serve the People"was released

in the Presence of Honourable Parliamentarians by our Association 

The Book " In The Quest For Truth ..... To Serve The People

was handed Over by our veteran Leader Com S.K.Vyas to

Worshipful Mayor of Chennai in the presence of

Honourable Parliamentarians,Fraternal leaders

Honourable Member of Parliament Shri.S.S.Ramasubbu M.P

addressed the gathering

Honourable Member of Parliament Shri.T.K.Rangarajan M.P being

Honoured by our Secretary General

Presidiential Address to the gathering

Convenor, Coordination Committee Shri.G.Jesuraja being Felicitated by Our President

Chairman of the Coordination Committee Shri.K.T.Sridharan

being felicitated by our Vice President Com.P.Prabhakar

Convenor Coordination Committee invited our Guests to Dias

Worshipful Mayor of Chennai  Welcome address 

during our inaugural Session 

Secretary General Conducted the proceedings of the inaugural Session

Fraternal Leaders in the Dias

Fraternal Leaders in the Dias

Nonourable Member of Parliament Shri.Basudeb Acharia M.P 

addressed the Gathering

President Com.S.V.Deshpande Hoisted our Association Flag

Honourable Member of Parliament Shri.S.S.Ramasubbu arrived to our Venue

Reception Committee Chairman Worshipful Mayor of Chennai Shri.M.Subramanian in the Dias

Reception Committee Chairman Worshipful Mayor of Chennai M.Subramanain 

honoured by our Secretary General

President S.V.Deshpande, Worshipful Mayor M.Subramanian,

Honourable Member of Parliament shri.Basudeb Acharia,

Honourable Member of Parliament Shri.S.S.Ramasubbu,

Former Secretary General Com.Unnikrishnan in the dias

HonourableMember of Parliament Shri.T.K.Rangarajan,

Worshipful Mayor of Chennai M.Subramanian,

Honourable Member of Parliament Shri.S.S.Ramasubbu,

Former Secretary General UnniKrishnan, Former President Radhakrishna in the Dias 

We Salute the Indian

Who choose to brave

The most difficult battle field in the world

 THE SIACHEN GLACIER

-53ºC        21,147 Feet

The 62^nd Republic Day of India commemorates the date on which the

Constitution of India came into force replacing

the Government of India Act 1935 as the

governing document of India on 26 January 1950.

The date 26 January was chosen to honour the

memory of the declaration of independence of 1930

“WE, the people of INDIA, having solemnly

Resolved to constitute India into a

SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC

and to secure to all its citizens;

JUSTICE, social, economic and political;

LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief,

faith and worship;

EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;

and to promote among them all

FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the

Individual and the unity

and integrity of the Nation”

Be Proud to be an Indian…… Happy Republic Day

S.Mohan

Secretary General

Circular 9 -2010 -11 of All India Audit & Accounts Officers Association

To

The National Executive Members &

The Secretaries of the Affiliates.

Dear Comrades,

34^th Conference of All India Audit and Accounts Officers Association:

The 34^th Conference of the All India Audit and Accounts Officers Association was held at ICSA Centre Jivana Jyothi Building, 107, Pantheon Road, Egmore Chennai from 09.01.11 to 11.01.11 as notified. Its inaugural session was held at Museum Theatre Egmore, Chennai on 9^th Jan 2011 at 10.00 A.M. 34 Delegates and 20 observers and 2 Special invitees representing 17 units attended the Conference.

Inaugural Session of the 34^th Conference: 09.01.2011:

Com.S.V.Deshpande,  President of the Association hoisted the Flag and saluted the martyrs in the presence of Com.Basudeb Acharia, who is a seven time Member of Parliament, Com.S.K.Vyas., President Confederation of CGEs, Com MS Raja Secretary General All India Audit & Accounts Association, Com Unnikrishnan, former Secretary General of our Federation, Com.Radhakrisna former President. Shri,M.Subramanian, Worshipful Mayor of Chennai,the Chairman, Reception Committee, welcomed the Honorable members of Parliament, delegates and leaders of fraternal organisations.  The Conference was inaugurated by Com.Basudeb Acharia, who greeted this Association for its tradition of struggle and of discharging the responsibility through its accountability to the people. He pointed out that as a nation we were facing a crisis of Public Accountability today. The major crisis was that even after 63 year of independence we have not been able to resolve many of the problems faced by the majority of the people in this country such as the problem of poverty, the problem of unemployment, the problem of ignorance. The Gap between the rich and poor had increased and the society was divided not in the name of religion, caste, or region but in the name of wealth. He further added that we, the elite of the society, should search our soul for the rooting out of these problems. He explained the reasons behind these problems and how the pursuance of the policy of globalization, privatization, and liberalization followed by the successive Governments had been the sole reason behind this and proposed that the elite should come forward to reverse degeneration. Special Address was delivered by Shri.Ramasubbu Honourable Member of Parliament. He mentioned that the service of Audit and Accounts Officers were the backbone of the not only to Indian Audit and Accounts department but also to the entire nation. He further elaborated that the services of the AOs/SAOs should be honored with suitable grade pay and suitable status. He assured that our genuine demand would be taken by him in the floor of Parliament.

The 34^th Conference was felicitated by T.K.Rangarajan Honourable Member of Parliament. He pointed out that the  houses of the auditors in the private firm was raided by the CBI where as it would not be in the case of our case since the Audit Officers and Sr.Audit Officers  were very honest in their service to the nation. He also assured that our genuine demand would be taken by him in the floor of Parliament.

Release of a Book:

The institution of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India shoots into the limelight from time to time whenever his reports bring out issues that the media and the political parties find to be good publicity or adverse publicity material. The latest being the report on the 2G Spectrum allocation that marked the dawn of the 150^th year of the institution with a bang.  It has been the experience of many of those who serve the IA&AD that the public at large remains ill-informed about the institution of the C&AG and how it serves the public, largely because of the conscious avoidance of publicity and the uncompromising professional quest for facts regarding financial propriety, regularity etc. That the institution has not been accused of having “compromised” so far stands testimony to the practiced resistance to external influences and had discharged its responsibilities “without fear or favour”. But the deliberate isolation has also prevented “public awareness” about the institution.

The book titled as“In the quest for truth …… to serve the people” is an attempt by the All India Audit and Accounts Officers Association, to inform the reader of the “Who and Why” of the Supreme Audit Institution of this country. The Association takes great pride in bringing out this book in the 150^th year of the C&AG which was released by our veteran leader Com.S.K.Vyas and the first copy was received by Com.Basudeb Acharia in the Presence of Worshipful Mayor Shri.M.Subramanian and Honourable Member of Parliament Shri.Ramasubbu and Shri.T.K.Rangarajan in our inaugural session of the 34^th Conference. It is our endeavor to place the facts before the reader and not to eulogies the Institution or to criticize it. This book contains facts about the struggle of the Accounts Officers, Audit Officers, Sr.Accounts Officers and Sr.Audit Officers for due recognition of their contribution to the department that has enabled it in achieving what it had over the years of its existence. All India Audit and Accounts Officers Association is grateful to Com.N.Kannan & Com J Balakrishnan SAOs (both retired) for their contribution to this book.

Com M.S.Raja Secretary General of All India Audit and Accounts Association greeted the delegates and explained the hostile situation prevailing in the department and he assured that with the cooperation of employees and officers the situation would be overcome. Com Virugu Bhattacharjee, Convener of the Joint Action Committee of audit and accounts employees and officers’ organasations reiterated that the joint action committee would move forward to achieve our demand. Com Vasudevan, General Secretary of Insurance Officers Federation, Com.Varadharajan General Secretary of the Promotee Officers Federation , Railways, Com.Ananda Padmanabhan General Secretary of the Pay and Accounts Officers Association, Com.Chandramouli,  Central Excise Officers Association, Com.Dakshinamoorthy Postal Accounts Officers Association, Com.UnniKrishnan  Com.A.V.Venkataraman Former Secretary General of All India Audit and Accounts Association, Com.S.K.Vyas, President of the Confederation of Central Government Employees, Com.M.Duraipandian, President of All India Audit and Accounts Association, Com.N.Srinivasan General Secretary Railway Accounts Staff Association also greeted the Conference. Com.K.T.Sridharan, Chairman Coordination Committee proposed the vote of thanks.

Felicitation to our Leaders:

Com. K.T.Sridharan, Vice President of the Association, who had already retired and Com.G. Jesu Raja Convener Coordination Committee of the Audit and Accounts Officers Association Tamil Nadu Unit who is to retire in April 2011 were felicitated in the venue of the Inaugural Session.

Delegate Session: 10.01.2011:

The Delegate Session was presided by the Presidium consisting of Com.S.V.Deshpande and Com.K.T.Sridharan. The Secretary General presented the minutes of 33rd Conference held at Nagpur which was adopted unanimously by the Conference. Com.S.Mohan then presented the report of the Secretary General for the period from 2008 to 2010 and explained the salient features of the report. More than 14 delegates from various affiliated units took part in the discussion. Finally the report of Secretary General was adopted with certain modifications/additions   The Secretary General’s report adopted by the Conference shall be circulated shortly. Then the Secretary General presented the Audited Accounts for the year 2008-09 & 2009-10 which were unanimously adopted by the Conference.  

Special Address by Dr.Venkatesh Atherya:

The delegate Session was addressed by Dr.Venkatesh Atherya, who is a leading economist. He presented the situation prevailing in this country. He explained about budget, deficit budget and fiscal deficit and how the country as well as the world was facing the economic crisis .The response of the delegates was very good and the question hour session witnessed a mind boggling discussion.

Resolutions Adopted:

The Conference adopted unanimously a detailed resolution on ‘policy and programmes’ for the future course of action in the coming years after a detailed discussion amongst the delegates as also a resolution on conferment of Group A status have been adopted.  

Election to the National Executive:

The Conference appointed Com.M.G.Venkatesh Vice president of P&T Audit Officers and Sr.Audit Officers Association and Com KV Nagaraju out going Assistant Secretary General as Election Officers to conduct the election of the members of the National Executive for the period 2011 to 2013. All the office bearers were elected unopposed and unanimously. The 34^th Conference also unanimously nominated Auditor and nominated advisors to the National Executive. The list of office bearers,  General Auditor nominated and the Advisors for the All India Audit and Accounts Officers Association unanimously approved by the conference are enclosed. After the acceptance speech by the newly elected office bearers, valedictory address by the Former vice President, and the convener of the Coordination Committee the conference concluded after adopting a resolution thanking the Host Unit for their splendid efforts in organizing the Conference successfully.

It is requested that each unit leadership should undertake extensive campaign by holding activists’ meetings, group meetings etc about our problems confronted day to day and to communicated view points for further course of action.

                                                                                                     Yours Fraternally,

                                                                                               

                                                                                                            S.Mohan

                                                                                                     Secretary General.

Composition of National Executive Committee of

All India Audit and Accounts Officers’ Association

I.National executive Committee Members

Sr. No	Post	Name	Present Office
1	President	S. V. Deshpande	O/o Accountant General (A & E) II Maharashtra, Nagpur
2	Vice President	P.Prabhakar	Principal Director of Audit, South Central Railway, Secundrabad
3	Secretary General	S. Mohan	O/o Pr.Directpr of Commercial Audit & Ex-officio Member Audit Board IV New Delhi @ Chennai.
4	Additional Secretary General	R. K.Gowtham.	O/o Accountant General (A & E) I Madhya Pradesh Gwalior
5	Secretary (Finance)	Y.P.Kanade	O/O the Accountant General (A&E) I., Maharashtra Mumbai
6	Asst. Secretary General	Balbir Singh Sharma	O/o Director General of Central Revenues New Delhi
7	Asst. Secretary General	V.Prema Chandran	O/o the Director General of Postal Audit Branch Office Thiruvananthapuram
8	Asst. Secretary General	P.Balasubramaniam	O/o Principal Accountant General (Civil Audit), Tamil Nadu and Puduicherry Chennai