Government auditor, the Comptroller and Auditor General has found that not all disease outbreaks and chemical accidents taking place in different parts of the country are reported to Central authorities which could effect the response to epidemics.
Former top CAG official R P Singh on Monday appeared before the Joint Parliamentary Committee looking into the 2G spectrum scam and is understood to have stuck to his stand that the presumptive loss in the radiowave allocation was only Rs 2,645 crore (Rs 26.45 billion).
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday said he intends to work with CAG to erase the impression of adversaries in an attempt to restore trust and confidence in all institutions.
Addressing a Comptroller and Auditor conference in New Delhi, Chidambaram said the official auditor and the government have been cast as adversaries to each other in the aftermath of recent audit findings.
The recent draft report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) which pointed to misuse and non-utilisation of funds for the National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) scheme doesn't mean the programme is a write-off. The audit will act as a deterrent and spur state governments to work more efficiently, Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh has said.
RINL wiped out its losses in 2005-06 with money from the government.
While government/PSU procedures focus on piece meal & individual tenders taken on standalone basis, avoiding delays and cost of not doing things becomes a primary consideration in PSC procurement
Corrective action on the coal scam must not be such as to impose further obstructions to production of coal from the blocks allotted.
Delivering on yet another poll promise, the Aam Aadmi government on Tuesday announced a 50 per cent subsidy on power consumption upto 400 units in Delhi and was well on course to ordering a CAG audit into the finances of three private power distribution companies.
The auditor said that it has unfettered right of access to all records of Reliance Industries (RIL) during its audit of operations in the Krishna-Godavari basin and would override any conditions sought to be imposed on the process.
Replying to questions in Rajya Sabha, he said CAG in its audit observations has pointed out financial irregularities of Rs 1404.32 crore (Rs 14.04 billion) in its 2008 report and Rs 4547.63 crore (Rs 45.47 billion) in the 2007 report. Deshmukh said CAG has also pointed out reasons for deficiencies in the accounts of PSUs.
An expert committee has recommended to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar that supply of equipment need not be blocked even if bribery charges emerge.
The BJP government in the state violated the Indian Government Accounting Standard.
Apex auditor CAG on Friday lamented that private telecom operators are not providing their account books to it, despite a request from the government.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has criticised the army for "unauthorised" utilisation of helicopters of the aviation corps including sorties undertaken on Saturday, Sunday and holidays which cost the exchequer nearly Rs three crore extra as unauthorised expenditure.
CAG had in its previous reports slammed Oil Ministry and its technical arm DGH for not exercising enough control and vigil over KG-D6 block.
The Comptroller and Auditor General on Friday rapped space agency Indian Space Research Organisation for allowing a foreign private satellite service provider to park its satellite in an orbit slot meant for Indian satellites in violation of nation's SATCOM policy and extending "undue benefit" to a foreign firm.
The minister also said that four cases of corruption in defence deals have been registered by the CBI since 2015.
Under attack over his remarks that official auditor should not "sensationalise" its audit findings, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said media did not accurately reflect the spirit of his speech at the CAG conference.
The apex auditor is busy preparing a report on the Air India-Indian Airlines merger and modernisation of airports through public-private-partnerships, both carried out during the previous term of the United Progressive Alliance government.
CAG in the audit report on land issues in three IT parks also said 64% land given for IT development remained unutilised since 1990
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said data is information and it will dictate history in the future as he exhorted for strong and scientific audits to make systems strong and transparent. Speaking at the Audit Diwas event of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), he said in the past information was transmitted in form of stories.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi on Sunday said that a Comptroller Auditor General inquiry should be conducted into expenditure made during Maha Kumbh Mela at Allahabad.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Friday criticised the previous National Democratic Alliance government for undervaluation of a number of public sector units, including Balco and VSNL, where equity was divested.\n\n
Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party paralyses Parliament on the allocation of coal blocks by the Centre, its own government in Chhattisgarh had come under attack from Comptroller and Auditor General for allocating coal blocks at 'abnormally low' rates that led to a loss of over Rs 1,052 crore.
According to an official close to the development, in the coming financial audit report, to be tabled in Parliament's Budget session next year, CAG will detail the slide in the government's share in petroleum sector profits due to a drop in gas production.
Audit scrutiny of expenditure on foodgrains (Rs 37.4 crore) and cash dole (Rs 44.59 crore) revealed delay in distribution, doubtful purchase of material, doubtful distribution of foodgrain and non-submission of detailed contingent bills.
In 11 out of 29 coal mines successfully e-auctioned, a number of qualified bidders in the e-auction stage were from the same company/parent subsidiary company coalition/joint venture, CAG said.
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."
Altogether 41,663 farmers in 383 villages in Washim, Yavatmal, Amravati and Buldhana districts of Vidarbha region were covered in the sample survey. Those reporting land holding in range of two to six hectares were 40 per cent and around six per cent reported land holding of more than six hectares, CAG said. Only eight per cent farmers confirmed visit of any government official in 2006, the report said.
Former CAG lead auditor R P Singh, who had questioned the loss figure of Rs 1.76 lakh crore in 2G spectrum allocation, on Tuesday came under fire in the JPC with opposition members contesting his claim.
The Planning Commission has decided that approvals for all social sector projects undertaken by various non-government organisations, normally outside the purview of CAG, will come with the rider that they will be subject to audit, if required.
The DoT is acting as a liaison between telecom companies and the CAG for an audit by the latter.
Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai on Monday briefed the Public Accounts Committee about his report in the 2G spectrum allocation. His report on a presumptive loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore in 2G spectrum allocation had created a storm in Parliament and outside. The PAC, headed by Bharatiya Janata Party veteran leader Murli Manohar Joshi, is examining the controversial allocation of 2G radio waves and Rai apprised the committee of how the audit looked into the whole issue.
According to an interim report of the government audit body, the loss should have been Rs 8,589.1 crore (Rs 85.89 billion), instead of Rs 5,551 crore (Rs 55.51 billion) as has been shown in the account books, sources said.
Out of 122 Unified Access Service licences awarded in 2008, as many as 85 licences were given to the six new entrants to the telecom sector.
"Before entering into any contract, the government will go through all details. We will assess the criticism, including that of CAG, on the issue. At present, the Gorshkov price escalation is in negotiation stage. Nothing has been finalised," Defence Minister A K Antony said during Question Hour.
The CAG has suggested canceling nationwide broadband spectrum allocated to Infotel Broadband Services, now a Reliance Industries company, for allegedly rigging the auction and violating rules.
The government had in October 2007 set a sale price of $4.20 per million British thermal unit based on the price discovered by RIL from key customers.
It came under severe criticism from the CAG on Friday as it pointed out that its Mark-I version has 53 'significant shortfalls'.
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