Rai rolls out quotes from late Prez to current PM

In his deposition before the JPC on 2G, Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai quoted the country’s Constitution besides late President S Radhakrishnan and present Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, among others. All this, to defend his office and drive home the point that the criticism of the top auditor was inevitable.

Members said Rai waited patiently for two hours, as political parties fought over JPC chairman P C Chacko’s press conference yesterday. When Rai's turn came, members said the CAG was “combative” and “assertive”, and explained in great detail the loss figure of Rs 1.76 lakh-crore.

The CAG began his presentation by explaining the Constitution’s position of the auditor’s office. That was to allay a most common criticism again him: of commenting on policy issues. In a slide titled ‘Issues regarding the CAG overstepping the mandate’, the CAG argued that “the (2G) report has only sought to examine the implementation of the policy, and the finding has been that the entire implementation process does not withstand the test of scrutiny”.

Next, Rai moved to address the “adversarial role” between the audit and the executive. He quoted the difference in the oaths of the cabinet minister and pointed to the differences between the CAG and the government in the past over its audit reports. He gave the examples of the 1989 audit of the purchase of Bofors guns and 1999 Operation Vijay as instances of disagreement in the recent past. “The criticism of the CAG’s institution is not new and is along expected lines,” he added

In his conclusion, Rai, evoked the speech of S Radhakrishnan, as the country’s vice-president, on June 2, 1954. “The audit department,” it said, “is obliged to say things which are embarrassing to the government but it is the duty of its officers, on account of their greater loyalty to the country, to act as a check even on the government of the day…. Do not shrink from truth for fear of offending men in high places.”