The\nprovision for independent audit is an essential ingredient of parliamentary\ndemocracy. The fundamental basis of parliamentary system of Government, as we\nhave already seen, is the responsibility of the Executive towards the\nLegislature for all its actions. The Legislature will be able to enforce this\nexecutive responsibility only if it is competent to scrutinise the activities\nof the Executive, and exercise on each of them its judgement in an appropriate\nmanner. There are certain activities of the Executive which can easily be\nscrutinised by anyone, while others are difficult for a group of lay\u00admen to\nscrutinise. Checking of accounts and assessing the soundness or otherwise of\nthe financial transactions of the Executive is a technical job which falls in\nthe latter category, and Parliament, composed as it is of laymen in general, is\nnot a competent and suitable instrument for making such scrutiny. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet,\nit is a function of Parliament to scrutinise the financial dealings of the\nGovern\u00adment and ensure that the taxpayers\u2019 money is spent properly. Parliament\nneeds the assistance of an expert for this purpose and it is in this context\nthat the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General becomes an essential ingredient\nof parliamentary democracy. For, it is the Comptroller and Auditor General who,\nthrough his expert advice, enables Parliament to discharge this function\nefficiently. By performing such an important function, the Comptroller and\nAuditor General makes himself an indis\u00adpensable instrument in the proper\nworking of a parliamentary government. It is this important role that makes his\noffice one of the four pillars of our democratic Cons\u00adtitution, the other three\nbeing the Legisla\u00adture, the Executive and the Judiciary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nframers of our Constitution, realising the importance of an independent agency\nfor audit under parliamentary democracy, made the Comptroller and Auditor\nGeneral fully independent so that he could discharge his functions efficiently\nand fearlessly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Independence of the\nComptroller and Under Article 148, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India is to be appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal, just as a Judge of the Supreme Court is appointed. He can be removed from office only in a like manner and on the like grounds as a Judge of the Supreme Court. Every person appointed to be the Com\u00adptrol\u00adler and Auditor General, before he enters upon his office, has to make and subscribe before the President an oath or affirmation in a form prescribed for the purpose. His salary and other conditions of service may be determined by Parliament. But once appointed, neither his salary nor his rights in respect of leave of absence, pension or age of retirement can be varied to his dis\u00adadvantage. The Comptroller and Auditor General receives the same salary as that of a Judge of the Supreme Court. After retirement or resig\u00adna\u00adtion from office, he is not eligible for any office of profit under the Government. The administrative expenses of the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, including the salaries, etc., of the office staff, are charged upon the Consolidated Fund of India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Duties and Powers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Articles\n149 and 150 deal with the powers and duties of the Comptroller and Auditor\nGeneral. According to Article 149, Parliament is empowered to prescribe the\npowers and duties of the Comptroller and Auditor General in relation to the\naccounts of the Union and the States and of any other authority or body\nestablished either by the Union or the States. Accordingly, Parliament passed\nan Act in 1972 dealing with these matters. It upholds the independence of the\nComptroller and Auditor General of India and enables him to work effectively\nand efficiently. According to Article 150, the Comptroller and Auditor General\nhas the power to prescribe the form and manner in which the accounts of the\nUnion and the States shall be kept, subject to approval of the President.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nComptroller and Auditor General is expected to discharge three main\nfunctions :<\/p>\n\n\n\n (1)\nto audit the Government\u2019s expenditure; <\/p>\n\n\n\n (2)\nto see that the financial rules and orders which have a bearing on Governmental\nexpenditure are obeyed; and <\/p>\n\n\n\n (3)\nto satisfy himself that those who san\u00adc\u00adtion expenditure have the power to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However,\nthe most important function of the Comptroller and Auditor General, though it\nis not one which forms part of his statutory obligations, is to examine the\naccounts from the standpoint of economy and to draw the attention of the Public\nAccounts Committee of Parliament to cases of apparent wastage and extravagance.\nWherever a parliamentary system of government prevails, this is considered to\nbe the most important function of this office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Under\nArticle 151, the reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General relating to the\naccounts of the Union are submitted to the President. Those relating to the\naccounts of the States are submitted to the Governors. These reports are laid\nbefore Parliament and the State Legislatures, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The service\nrendered by the Comptroller and Auditor General is of inestimable value to\nsafeguard the interests of the taxpayers. Audit is the watchdog of the finances\nof the nation and the Comptroller and Auditor General is the supreme overseer\nof the Government\u2019s financial activities on behalf of Parliament. In a country\nlike India where public expenditure is increasing at a fast pace year after\nyear, there is scope both for the widening and for the intensifying of the role\nof the Comptroller and Auditor General for the better realisation of the\ndemocratic ideals embodied in the Constitution as also to pinpoint cases of\napparent wastage and extravagance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The provision for independent audit is an essential ingredient of parliamentary democracy. The fundamental basis of parliamentary system of Government, as we have already seen, is the responsibility of the Executive towards the Legislature for all its actions. The Legislature will be able to enforce this executive responsibility only if it is competent to scrutinise […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":574,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573\/revisions\/574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.competitionreview.in\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAuditor General<\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n