Retain Cag

This refers to the news item Move to abolish concept of government company wherein it is proposed to take away the jurisdiction of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) from public sector enterprises. The logic that this is in line with the governments move to provide public sector management with greater freedom and autonomy is fallacious and perverse.

The inefficiency in the public sector is because standards of sound management and of financial propriety are disregarded and not because CAG reports and CVC pursue cases where these standards are disregarded. In fact, the CAGs reports narrate the story of omissions and commissions indulged in by the management generally at the instance, if not actively encouraged, by the government. This leads to inefficiency and is not the cause of inefficiency.

On the contrary, there is a need to expand the jurisdiction of CAG. It is common knowledge that a 51 per cent share capital is not required to effectively control the company. Some of the largest companies are being controlled by persons who own only 5-8 per cent shares of the company. The jurisdiction of CAG should extend wherever the government is in control and management of the company, irrespective of what its shareholding in the company is.

We require stronger auton-omous institutions like CAG to enforce accountability of these bodies.