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.
Even the CBI has filed a case against some unknown officials of the DoT for conniving with private companies for manipulation of licence terms and conditions.
Displaying a washing machine on its press conference dais, the Congress on Saturday taunted the Bharatiya Janata Party over the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filing a closure report in a 2017 corruption case against Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel and said the ruling party's 'fully automatic washing machine' works on the principle -- 'join BJP, case closed'.
Under attack from Left parties on the Centaur Hotel sell-off, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday
The CAG report noted that availability of 55 per cent types of ammunitions was below minimum inescapable requirement to be maintained for operational preparedness and 40 per cent types of ammunitions were in critical level, having stock of less than 10 days.
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.
Reliance Industries has accused CAG of exceeding its brief in the audit of spending on eastern offshore KG-D6 block saying hindsight is being used to question operational decisions taken 8 years back.
The Comptroller and Auditor General on Monday said that the audit of certain activities of Department of Space were under way but made it clear that media reports on alleged scam in a deal between ISRO and a private firm cannot be concluded as its "findings".
Politics over its critical reports on scams echoed in the 150th anniversary celebrations of the Comptroller and Auditor General on Wednesday when Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Public Accounts Committee Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi praised Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for defending both the CAG and the PAC when they came under attack.
Delhi High Court says it can do so under the TRAI Act, rejects petitions filed by telecom associations.
CAG, in a report tabled in Parliament today, said Oil and Natural Gas Corporation hired rig 'Actinia' from RIL for six months in 2009 for Rs 146.71 crore (Rs 1.46 billion) saying it needed urgently drill three wells but its actual usage indicated the hiring was 'not necessary'.
In a blow to GSM operators, who have been demanding that auditor CAG be stopped from vetting their account books, tribunal TDSAT has declined an interim relief, saying it had no powers to intervene.
The PSC provides for a financial audit -- checking of the contractor's accounts in order to verify the charges and credits, but not a performance audit that scrutinises efficacies of processes or technology used in the complex deep sea operations.
The Comptroller and Auditor General report for 2008, released in New Delhi, also questioned the prudence of the Ministry in buying the second-hand Russian warship, which now comes at 'half its life-span and about "60 per cent more expensive' than a new aircraft carrier.
Sources said former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi will write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for early passage of the bill in the Lok Sabha during the upcoming session as the same has already been passed by the Rajya Sabha.
"The performance of the public part of the (PPP) project should be subject to proper scrutiny but obviously where the private sector (is given) flexibility ... you cannot subject that to CAG scrutiny," Montek Singh, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman said when asked whether there is case for CAG scrutiny of PPP projects.
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.
Flaying post-bid concessions to Reliance Power, the CAG on Friday said the Anil Ambani-led firm got undue benefit of Rs 29,033 crore (Rs 290.33 billion) when the government allowed use of surplus coal from blocks alloted to Sasan power plant for its other projects.
'Because of the callous attitude of the railway administration, they don't take care of safety.'
Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal on Friday said that he meant no disrespect to any institution by his comments on the CAG report on 2G scam, but maintained that "canards" had to be responded to.
Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma said the parties shall file brief written submissions not exceeding five pages.
The new circular issued by the tax research unit of CBEC on June 19 says, "CAG would not be covered by the service head Business Support Service."
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a Public Interest Litigation challenging the appointment of Shashi Kant Sharma as the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
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.
The govt auditor also indicts DGH and management committee of D1 and D3 fields
Amidst Opposition ruckus in Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday asserted that the observations of the CAG on the allocation of coal blocks were clearly disputable.
It came under severe criticism from the CAG on Friday as it pointed out that its Mark-I version has 53 'significant shortfalls'.
The minister also said that four cases of corruption in defence deals have been registered by the CBI since 2015.
In his letter to Modi, Kharge hit out at the railway minister for seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation probe, saying the law enforcement agency is meant to investigate crimes, not railway accidents.
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 Congress on Friday claimed that a 'silent undercurrent' is brewing across western Uttar Pradesh against the 'failures' of the Modi government, as it flagged issues such as 'neglect' of sugarcane farmers and examination paper leaks.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is under fire from the former CAG Vinod Rai over the 2G spectrum scam and Coalgate, said he has done his "duty" and refused to respond to charges levelled against him.
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.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India had called an Entry Conference with RIL and the Oil Ministry on Wednesday to begin its second round of audit that is to cover RIL's spending on KG-D6 gas fields during 2008-09 to 2011-12.
West Bengal lost Rs 546.68 crore (Rs 5.46 billion) in 2007-08 for not having its own fiscal responsibility law, which mandates fiscal discipline, according to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).
Three ED officers were injured and several of their vehicles vandalised, as hundreds of supporters of TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh attacked them on January 5, when the team went to conduct a raid at his house in Sandeshkhali in connection with alleged irregularities in the state's ration system.
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.
Retirement fund body EPFO paid lesser amount as interest on PF deposits of over five crore subscribers than its earnings between 2007-08 and 2010-11, government auditor CAG has said.
The Delhi High Court-appointed observer Justice (Retd) Mukul Mudgal said that a former Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) will look after the tender process for the fourth cricket Test between India and South Africa starting next month.
He said the benchmark against which the auditors examine and assess the performance of the departments are not created by them, but by the government itself.
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