Consider the following statements about the powers and duties of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India : 1. He audits and reports on all expenditures from the Consolidated Fund of India. 2. He controls the issue and receipt of money from the Consolidated Fund of India. 3. He audits and reports on the expenditure of all bodies substantially financed from the Union or State revenues. Which of the statements given above are correct?

Correct — C, 1 and 3 only. The Comptroller and Auditor General audits and reports on all expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of India, so statement 1 stands, and the audit reach extends to bodies and authorities substantially financed from Union or State revenues, which is statement 3. Statement 2 attributes a power the office does not have in India. The British Comptroller and Auditor General controls issues from the exchequer, so that no money leaves without authority; the Indian office inherited the title but not that function. Here the issue and receipt of money from the Consolidated Fund is handled by the executive through the treasury system, and the constitutional office is an auditor after the fact rather than a controller before it. Two statements correct, one wrong.

• (a)1 and 2 only — Includes statement 2. Exchequer control over the issue of money is exactly the power the Indian office lacks, which is why its title is often described as a misnomer.
• (b)2 and 3 only — Drops statement 1 and keeps statement 2, reversing the item. Audit of expenditure from the Consolidated Fund is the core constitutional duty.
• (d)1, 2 and 3 — Accepts all three, which would make the office both the paying authority and the auditor of its own payments — the separation that audit exists to preserve.

The Comptroller and Auditor General is appointed by the President under Article 148, holds office for six years or until the age of sixty-five, and can be removed only in the manner provided for a Supreme Court judge. The duties are set out in Article 149 and in the Comptroller and Auditor General's (Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service) Act, 1971, and cover expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of India and of the states, the Contingency Fund and Public Account, trading and manufacturing accounts, government companies and corporations, and bodies substantially financed from public revenues. The reports go to the President or Governor, are laid before the legislature, and are examined by the Public Accounts Committee.

The single idea worth carrying is that the Indian office audits but does not control. The word Comptroller survives from the British model where the same officer authorises issues from the exchequer, and examiners return to that gap repeatedly. Attach two safeguards to it. The office is not eligible for any further government office after demitting, which is what protects the independence of a post-audit function. And its reports have no executive force of their own — their weight comes from being laid before the legislature and scrutinised by the Public Accounts Committee.

• The Comptroller and Auditor General is appointed under Article 148 and removable only like a Supreme Court judge.
• The office audits all expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of India and of the states.
• Its audit extends to bodies and authorities substantially financed from Union or State revenues.
• It does not control the issue or receipt of money from the Consolidated Fund; that is an executive function.
• Its reports are laid before the legislature and examined by the Public Accounts Committee.

• Reading the word Comptroller as implying control over the issue of money in India.
• Assuming audit stops at government departments and misses bodies substantially financed from public revenue.
• Treating an audit report as a finding of guilt rather than material for legislative scrutiny.

Asked as a three-statement code item on the powers of a constitutional office, with the false statement borrowed from the British version of the same post.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Comptroller and Auditor General of India can be removed from office in the same manner as

  • (a)a judge of the Supreme Court
  • (b)the Attorney General
  • (c)the Chief Election Commissioner's fellow Election Commissioners
  • (d)a Governor of a state

  Answer(a) a judge of the Supreme Court — the security of tenure that protects audit independence.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Audit reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General relating to the accounts of the Union are examined by

  • (a)the Estimates Committee
  • (b)the Public Accounts Committee
  • (c)the Committee on Public Undertakings alone
  • (d)the Finance Commission

  Answer(b) the Public Accounts Committee — which examines the appropriation and finance accounts with the audit reports.