National auditor says a significant part of NPAs was due to fraud and may never be recovered
For some, he's a bully and probable 'blackmailer' who targeted the rich and famous, especially in Bollywood, for fame, and allegedly, ransom. For others, he's finally the one brave narc who decided to do his job, no matter how powerful his quarry, observes Shekhar Gupta.
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.
He replaced Vinod Rai, who superannuated on Wednesday after five-and-a-half years of eventful tenure as the head of CAG.
The bone of contention is the 450-seat convention centre built in the new DRDO building behind South Block at an additional cost of Rs 6.40 crore which has been taken objection to by the Comptroller and Auditor General.
The firm, headed by Sunil Kumar Gupta, was appointed auditors of the PM's National Relief Fund in 2019, reports Archis Mohan
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.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, however, said the governor is acting within his constitutional parameters while the "TMC is scared".
The audit is under progress and the report is yet to be finalised. The information cannot be given under Section 8(1)(C) of the RTI Act as the disclosure would cause breach of Parliament, the CAG said.
People like Manmohan Singh and P Chidambaram, who as finance minister had fully supported the NPS, refuse to exercise their moral and political influence to try and stop Ashok Gehlot and others hell-bent on wrecking the states' finances, notes Virendra Kapoor.
The tax department was given the land at Mumbai's posh location, measuring 2,786 square metre, with a minimum capacity of 100,000 sq ft, in 1992. Instead of constructing an office building, the department recently took a few floors on rent at the nearby Air India building.
There is money to buy the central public sector enterprises, but buyers will need a firm assurance that the disvestment programme will keep environment issues front and centre of their corporate plans.
Close on the heels of his indictment by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal has come under the lens of the office of the Charity Commissioner which has ordered inspection of a building owned by his family-run trust for violation of rules.
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.
Communist party of India-Marxist leader Brinda Karat on Sunday said the letter from the Prime Minister's Office to Team Anna defending corruption allegations against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh does not give any clarity on the matter.
'We don't have any agenda in that, there will be no discrimination against anyone. Constitution will be Gita in that'
Shashank Rai, 30, allegedly sought millions of dollars in forgivable loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act from two different banks by claiming to have 250 employees earning wages when, in fact, no employee worked for his alleged business.
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.
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 Comptroller and Auditor General on Friday dragged the Prime Minister's Office in the Commonwealth Games mess by saying that Suresh Kalmadi, who is jail for alleged irregularities, was appointed as Organising Committee chief at its behest in 2004 despite "serious objections" from within government.
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.
Holding that the Adarsh Housing scam was a classic case of fence eating the crops and 'consistent failure' of Centre and Maharashtra government, the Comptroller and Auditor General on Tuesday said rules were bent to benefit relatives of politicians, public servants and senior service officers including former Army chiefs Gen Deepak Kapoor and N C Vij.
Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday sharpened its attack against Sports Minister Ajay Maken for allegedly misleading the Lok Sabha on appointment of Suresh Kalmadi as Commonwealth Games organising Committee head, saying the Comptroller and Auditor General report makes it clear that prime minister's office responsible for it.
In further embarrassment to Congress, the Comptroller and Auditor General is understood to have rapped the Sheila Dikshit government in Delhi for irregularities in certain contracts related to the Commonwealth Games.
All set for more public interactions even as PM has been critical of the apex auditor recently.
Concerned over the frequent leaks of its "half baked reports", the office of the Union comptroller and auditor-general (CAG) has decided to issue different versions of its draft reports -- the ones given for feedback and reactions before the final version is readied -- to ministries and public sector units to nail the sources of leaks.
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'.
Vinod Rai, a 1972 batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre, took oath on Monday as the country's new Comptroller and Auditor General of India. Rai, who replaced V N Kaul, was administered the oath of office by President Pratibha Patil at a brief function at Rashtrapati Bhawan. Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram were among the dignitaries present at the ceremony.
The day after the closing ceremony, the Prime Minister's Office had asked the OC to make sure all documents were kept safe.
In its communication to DoT, the DGA said the department had granted new unified access service licences to certain companies without proper verification of their eligibility and other credentials.
Hailing from a family of lawyers from Maharashtra, he was part of a nine-judge Bench of the Supreme Court which in August 2017 declared the right to privacy as a fundamental right of an individual.
His appointment will be effective from the date he assumes charge of his office, an official statement said on Monday. An Indian Administrative Service officer of Kerala cadre, 1972 batch, Rai will take over from V N Kaul.
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.
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.
The 61-year-old, who was administered the oath of office by Jammu and Kashmir High Court Chief Justice Gita Mittal at a simple function in the Raj Bhavan, also said he wants to accelerate development in the union territory, carved out of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir last year.
Jaitley assured the Lok Sabha amid the ongoing standoff between Indian and Chinese military in the Doklam area.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India, the apex audit body, has decided to audit the accounts of five telcos-- Bharti Airtel, Reliance, Tata, Vodafone and the state-run BSNL-- for 2009-10.
The All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat, the umbrella body of Muslim organisations in the country, on Friday took serious note of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi's claim that an intelligence officer had told him that 'people from Pakistan were talking to the relatives of Muslims killed in the August 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots.
The Comptroller and Auditor General in 2012-13 had made certain observation in a report and 'we are improving it', he said.
