Push for portal to monitor action taken notes on CAG reports on Delhi

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The Accountant General (Audit) has urged the Delhi government to set up a portal for real-time monitoring of action taken notes submitted by its departments on CAG reports tabled in the Assembly, officials said on Sunday.

The audit reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), after being tabled in the Assembly, are discussed in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). Afterwards, the departments concerned submit action-taken reports on the CAG findings within three months.

The Accountant General (Audit) Delhi within one month from the date of submission of the notes vets it.

However, at present, there is a "huge pendency" in the submission of action taken notes by various departments of the Delhi government.

Citing this, the AG (Audit) office of Delhi earlier wrote to the Principal Secretary (Finance) of the Delhi government to explore the possibility of setting up an online monitoring system on the lines of the Audit Para Monitoring System (APMS)that will help ensure timely submission and efficient monitoring of action taken notes.

Web-based APMS was introduced by the Controller General of Accounts for effective monitoring of submission of the action taken notes on CAG audit paragraphs, action taken report on Public Accounts Committee observations and explanatory notes on excess expenditure.

The Accountant General (Audit) recently met the Delhi Assembly Speaker to push for the development of a web portal for the submission of action-taken notes on CAG reports.

"At present, there is a huge pendency in the submission of action taken notes by various departments of the Delhi government. The Directorate of Audit from time to time manually seeks information about the action taken notes from the office of Accountant General (Audit)," the AG (Audit) office said in a letter to the Assembly Secretariat.

Information regarding pending action taken notes on CAG reports related to the Delhi government is being manually sought from the office of Accountant General (Audit) by the Directorate of Audit, Finance department, which keeps a watch on the progress of submission of the notes.

This is a time and manpower intensive exercise, the AG (Audit) noted in the letter written earlier this week.

The APMS -- upgraded last year -- has streamlined the whole process by eliminating unnecessary delays and has encouraged a paperless culture in line with the "Digital India" programme. It has minimised the task of scanning the bulky notes besides ensuring real-time monitoring and transmission of material.

The National Informatics Centre (NIC) has developed the system for the Union government, that could be tweaked to suit the Delhi government's requirements, the AG office suggested.