CAG for change in recruitment rules to make public auditor future-ready

CAG of India Girish Chandra Murmu said on Tuesday that his office is in process of becoming future-ready and has proposed to the government to change the recruitment rules for auditors

Comptroller and Auditor General of India Girish Chandra Murmu said on Tuesday that his office is in process of becoming future-ready and has proposed to the government to change the recruitment rules for auditors so as to make IT proficiency an eligibility criteria.

Talking to reporters after the conclusion of the SAI20 Summit meeting under the Indian Presidency of G20 here, Murmu also said the apex government auditor was making constant upgrades in its IT infrastructure with the help of technology experts.

We have already proposed to the government, some exercise is going on, for change in recruitment rules, so that we can make an IT proficiency a priority in the recruitment eligibility.

So I'm taking up with the DoPT and the UPSC to approve this proposal. I cannot make it compulsory for the existing staff right now. But the future-ready capacity will be there, he said replying to queries.

Murmu also said the CAG has started end-to-end digital audits from this year onwards. He stressed the move will help in improving the accuracy of audits.

To another question, he said the CAG is already using some kind of machine learning because the auditor handles a lot of data.

Our AIs (artificial intelligence) are very secure, and we can vouch for data integrity, he said, and added that the CAG was moving in tandem with the government on auditing AI frameworks.

We are not technologically so advanced. We don't know how we can audit the AI system. But whatever the government has adopted, we are auditing directly, like the GSTN, he added.

He also said that after the two day meeting there is a consensus that SAI20 represented an action-oriented forum for the SAIs of G20 countries to collaborate on sharing of best practices, capacity building and development of appropriate auditing guidelines and actionable tool kits for auditing national priorities, which was also reflected in the SAI20 Communique adopted during the Summit.

In his in his valedictory address at the summit, Murmu highlighted that collectively, SAIs have chartered a path to heighten efficiency, accountability and transparency in the optimized maturing of the new-age areas of the Blue Economy and Artificial Intelligence.

He stated that considerable deliberations amongst SAIs as well as the voices of experts, had sensitized all to the multi-layered, cross-cutting nature and impact of the two priority areas, and consequent solution-oriented policy and operational dimensions.

The Summit saw participation of national and international delegates from G20 member SAIs, including, Australia, Brazil, Korea, Indonesia, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye.

Guest SAIs, -- Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, Nigeria, Oman, Spain and UAE; and Invited SAIs -- Morocco and Poland; International Organisation -- USAID and World Bank; too participated in the summit.