Stressing the need to make evidence-based policy formulation an integral part of governance, the prime minister said auditors must resort to technical tools to iron out any chances of fraud in organisations and give a new identity to new India.
Former Comptroller and Auditor General official R P Singh, who has stirred a controversy, has rejected the allegations that the Congress has put him up to defend the government on the audit report on 2G spectrum allocation which had estimated the presumptive loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore.
Opposing the Centre's stand that the PM CARES Fund was not a government fund, a lawyer told the Delhi High Court Wednesday that there was no factor to show that the fund was private in nature.
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.
India has been elected to the newly established Independent Audit Advisory Committee, a five-member body which is expected to contribute to improving the accountability of the UN Secretariat to the member states.
An initial audit report estimating Rs 10.67 lakh crore loss to the exchequer on account of allotment of coal blocks during 2004 to 2009 without auction caused an uproar in the Parliament and was described as "exceedingly misleading" by the CAG himself.
Cairn India and UK's BG Group too replied to audit observations.
All set for more public interactions even as PM has been critical of the apex auditor recently.
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.
The auditor said that in the case of performance audit on hydrocarbon production sharing contracts, 'interactive meetings were held with two operators, including RIL, prior to the finalisation of the draft performance audit report'.
The comptroller and auditor general has unearthed a Rs 450-crore scam involving the purchase of Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles by the Hyderabad-based National Technical Research Organisation, a technical arm of the external intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing. In the first ever audit of any intelligence agency in India, it was found that these UAVs were lying as junk.
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.
With media reports of audit raking up a coal scam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has clarified there is no report and maintained there was no need for him to clarify in Parliament.
Apex auditor CAG on Friday lamented that private telecom operators are not providing their account books to it, despite a request from the government.
Nearly 800 employees started the strike on February 3 alleging gross mismanagement of funds by the top management and demanded a thorough audit of ICAI by comptroller and auditor general.
Total outflow and inflow of foreign investment in general for 2014-15 fiscal was $6.42 bn and $75.71 bn, respectively
The CAG has pulled up the union government for adopting an erroneous process of devolution of IGST to states and short-transfer of cesses to reserve funds, which resulted in under-reporting of deficit figures for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 fiscals. The Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST), which is levied on inter-state sale of goods and services, is shared between the Centre and states in the 50:50 ratio. In its report on the union government accounts tabled in Parliament, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) found that a sum of Rs 13,944 crore was left unapportioned and retained in the Consolidated Fund of India (CFI) in 2018-19, even though the amended IGST Act now provides for a process for ad-hoc apportionment of IGST.
India on Friday won a crucial election to the UN Board of Auditors with its nominee Shashi Kant Sharma, the Comptroller and Auditor General, garnering the largest number of votes.
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.
The CAG's 2008 audit report points out several irregularities in defence deals, ranging from procurement of arms to cost incurred for wasteful research and development.
The Comptroller and Auditor General slammed the army for the poor quality of food items supplied to troops in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast on Tuesday, noting that the rations had rotted in some cases.
The Bombay high court on Thursday directed the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) to look into allegations of irregularities in toll collection on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.
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.
"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.
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.
This follows a letter by RIL to the ministry, justifying the increase in capex.
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.
Tax consultants and chartered accountants have started receiving a flurry of calls from their clients - both corporate and individuals - seeking clarity over changes in the reassessment regime made during the recently concluded Budget Session of Parliament. Tax experts apprehend the amendments may lead to the income-tax (I-T) department sending out more notices. The new provisions, effective from April 1, have extended the scope for tax sleuths to reopen the past assessments.
"At several occasions our leadership has given public statements on the issue. Each and every step in the process of the refit of the aircraft carrier is monitored by Indian navy's technical team and they have never raised objections," Vyacheslav Davidenko, the official spokesman for the Rosoboronexport state corporation, told PTI in Moscow.
Many federations and former athletes alike have been calling for an anti-doping legislation to implement the existing rules.
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
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.
The opposition party questioned why the government took five years after the liquidation proceedings of ABG Shipyard to lodge an FIR in connection with the alleged duping of 28 banks.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it would hear after two weeks the applications which have raised issues relating to the Board of Control for Cricket in India. The matter came up for hearing before a bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justice L Nageswara Rao.
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.
Some doctors were absent from duty for 20 years, others for 15, some for 12. About 64 doctors remained absent from duty for more than five years.
Former CAG Rajiv Mehrishi says Centre has held back a report he submitted to the President, to end what he called "a nightmare of accounts that militates against good governance".
The solicitor general said that the PM CARES Fund is a 'voluntary fund'. "It is a public trust. It is a body where you can make voluntary contributions and no budgetary allocations to the NDRF or SDRF are being touched. What has to be spent will be spent," the law officer said.
A special audit will look into any pricing anomalies in the transactions between the two, according to a source. FTIL had a contract for helping the exchange with its technology needs.
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