State actions cannot be measured solely in terms of money: CAG

"We are conscious that many of the actions of Government cannot be measured solely in terms of money. Social objectives, in many cases cannot be quantified," Rai said in his welcome address to the Conference of Accountants General.

"It has been our endeavour to look beyond the financials and judge the results. Our performance audits take a holistic view of the programme," he said.

The inaugural function also saw chairmen of two key financial committees of Parliament--Public Accounts and Public Undertakings--spar on the recent reports of the CAG.

Congress leader Jagambika Pal, who heads the Committee on Public Undertakings, had a word of caution for the CAG and asked the auditor to refrain from verifying the rationale behind public policies.

"The CAG has also at times termed expeditious decisions of government as hasty. Such observations would adversely affect the decision making process in government," he said.

"No doubt their role and responsibilities go beyond simply accounting to analysing the role and efficacy of executive decisions, but in discharge of its responsibilities the C&AG has to respect certain boundaries," Pal said.

BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, who chairs the Public Accounts Committee, rued the erosion in the respect for Constitutional provisions, institutions, procedures and rules of Parliamentary conduct to an extent of open criticism of the CAG by high government functionaries.

"The authority of the CAG under the Constitution of India has time and again been challenged and motives have been attributed to the performance audits conducted by the CAG," he said.