Taking potshots at Vinod Rai over his comment that placing reports in Parliament can't be the Comptroller and Auditor General's only role, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh on Friday asked whether the former intended to become the country's prime minister, if not an accountant.
He replaced Vinod Rai, who superannuated on Wednesday after five-and-a-half years of eventful tenure as the head of CAG.
With Digvijay Singh causing a flutter by targeting Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai and suggesting that he has a political agenda, the government on Friday said there was no need for Constitutional authorities to be "touchy and sensitive" about criticism.
BCCI registered its new constitution with the Registrar of Societies of Tamil Nadu in Chennai, paving the way for the Committee of Administrators (COA) to chalk out a roadmap for conducting elections.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kirit Somaiya on Tuesday demanded a special Comptroller and Auditor General audit into the alleged irregularities related to the construction of Maharashtra Sadan building along with an inquiry into certain 'benami' companies, which he claimed, had been floated by two state ministers.
Trying to wriggle out of the controversy over Union Minister V Narayansamy's remarks on the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Congress on Monday indicated that the government will not go in for changes in the auditor's institutional mechanism based on the "activities of a person".
Vinod Rai, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India till May and probably the most talked-about government official in the last few years, participated in a Live Chat with readers of Rediff.com on Friday.
Sachin Tendulkar has rejected BCCI's observation that his alleged Conflict of Interest falls under "tractable category", terming the parent body "responsible for the current situation".
In a first, the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) officers reached out to several ministries in the last week of April as part of a confidence-boosting measure. The meeting brought the CAG officials and those from the ministries across the table to discuss the pain points in their relations. CAG of India Girish Chandra Murmu took this novel step because of growing tensions between those audited and the auditor.
After the flop 2G spectrum auction that yielded only Rs 9,407 crore, government and the Congress on Thursday questioned the Comptroller and Auditor General's estimated loss of Rs.1.76 lakh crore in the spectrum allocation of 2001, drawing fire from the opposition. Information and Broadcasting minister Manish Tewari led the government attack by asking CAG Vinod Rai why the spectrum auction had not yielded anything close to the loss it had estimated.
Amid the storm over alleged kickbacks in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal, Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai on Friday said an audit of the controversial deal is under progress and a report would be released soon.
'As someone who has had the opportunity of cross examining Vinod Rai, extensively over three days as part of the Joint Parliamentary Committee, many of us included I had concluded at that point of time that this report rests on the foundation of sand.'
'We have referred the matter concerning Rahul and Pandya to the Ombudsman. He has just taken charge (earlier this month) and it is the only case we have referred so far. It is his domain entirely and he will take a call'
All the details from the meetings of the Committee of Administrators (CoA) held on July 6 and on June 29
The Comptroller and Auditor General on Tuesday declined to join a public debate on the controversies over its findings on the coal blocks allocation, which have come under attack from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Congress and critics.
A bench comprising Justices S A Bobde and A M Sapre also said that they will appoint three more members to the CoA and the orders to this effect would be passed in chambers.
The acting president also requested the state associations as well as the IPL franchises to make generous contribution to the cause.
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh took a dig at Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai on Thursday asking why does he not stop leak of reports from his office, a day after the latter deprecated the "brazenness" with which the decisions were being taken by the government.
Party insiders concede statements of the Raja kind have the potential to hurt the DMK's electoral chances in closely-fought seats in 2024, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Law Commission had said that the BCCI should be brought under the RTI Act, noting that it falls under the definition of a public authority which has received substantial financing from the government.
India head coach Ravi Shastri and his support staff, whose contracts end with the conclusion of the World Cup, will be given a 45-day extension by the Committee of Administrators.
'And who sold this belief?' 'Public-spirited individuals' like Subramanian Swamy.' 'Independent public servants' like Vinod Rai. 'Anti-corruption activists' like Kiran Bedi. And 'outspoken television anchors' like Arnab Goswami,' says Mihir S Sharma.
The two-member Committee of Administrators (CoA) is yet again divided and this time on how the inquiry into the latest controversy should be conducted.
The Committee of Administrators (COA) running the Board of Control for Cricket in India has received multiple pleas from various state associations to extend the deadline for submitting compliance report on the Lodha recommendations till March 27.
Miffed CoA issues show cause notice to Pandya, Rahul for comments on women.
Against the backdrop of dispute over figures of presumptive loss in 2G spectrum allocation, the Comptroller and AG has said the draft report which had put Rs 2,645 crore as one of the loss figures could not "conclusively" bring out the potential loss and merely highlighted "possibilities."
Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has sent a missive to the Comptroller and Auditor General, expressing concern over delayed audit reports adversely affecting the flagship National Rural Drinking Water Programme. In a personal letter to CAG Vinod Rai, he has drawn attention to the ministry not being able to release funds to the states as they are not submitting audits of accounts of grants-in-aid along with the utilisation certificates.
Diana wanted to give away IPL winners' trophy but eventually convention followed
It is learnt that the complainant Sanjeev Gupta of Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) and BCCI CEO Rahul Johri have also been summoned for deposition by Justice Jain.
The Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) on Thursday shot a letter to COA chief Vinod Rai, expressing 'pain' at the perception that appointments of Rahul Dravid and Zaheer Khan were forced upon head coach Ravi Shastri.
Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai on Wednesday rejected reports that there was pressure from Parliament's Public Accounts Committee chairman Murli Manohar Joshi to expedite audit work of 2G spectrum allocation and said no findings were ever shared with the PAC.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi who heads the Public Accounts Committee in Parliament has said that the prime minister's offer to depose before the committee is being considered. Joshi said that the Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai had not been summoned, but was a partt of the committee's proceedings.
A new Congress leader may make an electoral impact by his very presence. Congress voters who had moved away from the party, after being influenced by the BJP's 'family rule' campaign, can now return with a certain moral satisfaction, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'They will be able to ride over this immediate crisis and carry on, but they need to take corrective steps and these will have to be long term measures which must include working closely with state governments.'
The Board of Control for Cricket in India's Committee of Administrators (COA) will meet Bangladesh Cricket Board chief Nazmul Hasan Papon on Wednesday to discuss the proposed constitutional reforms in the International Cricket Council along with the revenue sharing model.
The Committee of Administrators (CoA), running the BCCI, had decided to cancel the glitzy opening ceremony in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack last month in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.
With the figure of Rs 1.76 lakh crore loss in 2G spectrum allocation being disputed, Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai and other officials of the government auditor will be asked to appear before the Joint Parliamentary Committee looking into the issue.
Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai has asked Public Accounts Committee Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi for permission to react to Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal\\'s open attack on him over the 2G report, according to sources.
Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai on Monday appeared before the Joint Parliamentary Committee, which is probing the 2G spectrum scam, to explain how the government auditor quantified the losses in the spectrum allocation at Rs 1.76 lakh crore. Rai was asked to brief the Committee, chaired by Congress leader P C Chacko, on the allocation and pricing of telecom licences and spectrum during 1998 to 2009.