Outgoing Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai on Tuesday dismissed charges that he was behind the leak of controversial audit reports on 2G spectrum and coal block allocations.
Report says ineligible farmers given benefits.
A review of three years' audit reports of CAG showed that the state PSUs' losses of Rs 6,072.96 crore (Rs 60.72 billion) were 'controllable' with better management.
The CAG, in its report tabled in Parliament recently, had stated that the defence forces had ammunition that could last for 20 days in the event of a war, instead of the minimum requirement of 40 days.
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.
Amid furore over coal blocks allocation, the government will place its views before Parliament's Public Accounts Committee by September 14 on the observations made by the Comptroller and Auditor General. "The coal ministry will submit its comments to the PAC on CAG's observations on coal blocks allocations by September 14," said a top coal ministry official.
The comments by a former official of the Comptroller and Auditor General over the report on 2G spectrum allocation on Friday kicked up a row with Congress President Sonia Gandhi suggesting that the Bharatiya Janata Party had been exposed while the government demanded answers from Parliament's PAC chief M M Joshi over his alleged role.
Under attack from the opposition over the Comptroller and Auditor General report on coal blocks allocation, the government is all set to counter it through a nation-wide campaign by key ministers and partymen.
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.
CAG says Rs 43,270.01 cr was spent by the water resources department on 426 incomplete projects.
The National Election Watch has said that several companies make political donations, which makes it necessary to probe if the donations have led to any favours. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
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".
Slamming Congress for trying to "weaken" Comptroller and Auditor General by making it a multi-member body, the Baratiya Janata Party on Monday warned that any such move would only 'boomerang' on the party.
Both Houses of the Parliament were adjourned minutes within the proceedings began on Thursday with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led opposition sticking to their demand for Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh''s resignation over the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on coal block allocations.
The stalemate in Parliament over the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on coal block allocation continues.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is likely to register more than one first information reports in the alleged irregularities in allocation of coal blocks after it came across several cases of violation of norms by state government officials and allottees.
We will now get CAG to do the audit for the last 3-4 years, says the secretary.
The Comptroller and Auditor General, which had at the end of its first sitting with RIL in January suspended the audit of spending on the flagging KG-D6 block following differences with RIL over scope and extent of the scrutiny, is likely to resume it next two weeks.
'Perhaps GST was too complex a system for the Indian economy at its present stage of development,' argues T N Ninan.
The Conflict ruling suggested in the Lodha reforms for BCCI came under criticism from several quarters as they believed it stopped the former cricketers from coming forward to help Indian cricket and cricketers.
The issue of CAG and PAC was mentioned in paragraph 25 of the judgment of the top court which had held that there were no irregularities in the procurement of 36 Rafale jets from France.
Some of them have ambitious plans to fight the slowdown, while some would seek to revive their image.
Agitated over its finding in the coal mine allocation issue, Congress on Monday targeted the Comptroller and Auditor General again by utilising the opinion of the Supreme Court on the 2G spectrum issue. Noting certain observations of the apex court in the 2G case, spokesperson Manish Tewari said, "If the Supreme Court can be so circumspect in its observations, is it not essential that other constitutional bodies, especially the CAG, should follow suit?".
Karunanidhi was convinced that using the 2G cases against the DMK and reopening the fodder case against Lalu Prasad Yadav were products of the Congress leadership's short-sightedness. A revealing excerpt from A S Panneerselvan's Karunanidhi: A Life.
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.
Disagreements over scope of audit cropped up on the very first day the Comptroller and Auditor General of India began to the second round of audit of spendings on eastern offshore KG-D6 fields with RIL alleging that the auditor was not confirming if the accounts scrutiny would be as per the provisions enshrined in the Production Sharing Contact.
Matching talent with jobs should not be a problem in Indian politics. In fact, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is spoilt for choice, says Sunanda K Datta-Ray
Under fire over allegations levelled by a former Comptroller and Auditor General official on its report on 2G spectrum allocation, Murli Manohar Joshi on Friday said the "hurried" statement of Sonia Gandhi attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party has only exposed the Congress.
Giving another twist to the 2G spectrum allocation controversy, a former comptroller and auditor general official has questioned the CAG's estimates of presumptive loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore. "After completing the audit of the ministry of telecom, which was under my direct charge, I prepared a draft audit report covering each and every aspect. My report did not contain any loss figure," said former director general of CAG R P Singh.
The deadlock in Parliament over the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on coal blocks allocation continued on Monday with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Opposition sticking to its demand for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's resignation. Both the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha have been adjourned till noon.
Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Friday targeted Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai suggesting he has a political agenda like one of his controversial predecessors T N Chaturvedi, who had given a report on Bofors issue and soon after joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Stung by the Comptroller and Auditors General report on notional revenue loss in coal blocs allocation, Congress on Thursday asked the national auditor to respond to the debate triggered by its findings about its methodology and working style.
Keeping up the government's attack on the Comptroller and Auditor General, Union minister V Narayanasamy on Friday said the top auditor owed an explanation on its estimated loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore in 2G spectrum allocation in the previous auction.
CAG's report on Hydrocarbon Exploration Efforts of ONGC, which was tabled in Parliament today, expressed concern at the company's lack of adequate efforts and results in new fields and wanted the Oil Ministry to reset annual targets set out in memorandum of understanding that the firm signs with the government.
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.
Debate and accountability must co-exist, says leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley
Despite the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday indicating that it would continue to obstruct the Parliament to demand Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's resignation over Comptroller and Auditor General's report on coal block allocations, the government is likely to make an attempt on Monday to convene an all-party meet to end the logjam.
The government on Friday launched a counter-offensive on the coal block allocation controversy maintaining that Comptroller and Auditor General's concept of presumptive loss was flawed and there was no loss because no mining has taken place as yet.
The Press Trust of India on Sunday in its report quoted Minister of State in the Prime Minister's office V Narayanasamy as having said that converting the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) into a multi-member body was under consideration of the government. The minister, however, said that he was misquoted.
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