MPPSC 2021 Prelims Paper-I · Question 60 of 100

Correct — B, President. The CAG is appointed by the President under Article 148 and can be removed only in the same manner as a Supreme Court judge, so that the country's top auditor stays independent of the political executive. Consistent with that insulation, personal service matters concerning the CAG — including granting or refusing leave — are kept with the President rather than with any single minister, so that no member of the government the CAG audits can informally pressure the CAG through leave approvals.

• (a)Finance Minister — The Finance Ministry is itself one of the bodies the CAG audits; giving it control over the CAG's leave would defeat the purpose of an independent audit.
• (c)Prime Minister — The Prime Minister has no formal role in the CAG's personal conditions of service; that role sits with the President.
• (d)Chief Justice of India — The CJI has no administrative authority over the CAG; the analogy to judicial protections covers the CAG's removal safeguard, not day-to-day leave administration.

Article 148 makes the CAG a constitutional watchdog over government finances, and — like the removal safeguard borrowed from Supreme Court judges — the Constitution keeps the CAG's personal service matters away from routine ministerial control. The power to grant or refuse the CAG's leave is vested in the President rather than in the Ministry of Finance, precisely because the CAG audits that very ministry.

This is a 'follow the independence logic' question: once a student knows the CAG's removal mirrors a Supreme Court judge's (Article 148(1)), they can reason that other personal service matters, like leave, would also sit with the highest office (the President) rather than with a minister.

• The CAG is appointed by the President under Article 148
• The CAG can be removed only in the same manner and on the same grounds as a Supreme Court judge
• The CAG's salary and conditions of service are governed by the Comptroller and Auditor General's (Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service) Act, 1971
• Granting or refusing the CAG's leave is a power vested in the President, not any minister, reinforcing the CAG's independence from the executive it audits

• Assuming the Finance Minister — who is audited by the CAG — has any say over the CAG's leave or service conditions
• Confusing removal safeguards (Supreme-Court-judge-style) with routine service matters like leave (President's power)

MPPSC tests these 'who holds administrative power over constitutional authority X' questions across the CEC, CAG, and PSC Chairmen — the President is the recurring answer for Union-level constitutional posts.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Comptroller and Auditor General of India is appointed by the President under which Article of the Constitution?

  • (a)Article 143
  • (b)Article 148
  • (c)Article 156
  • (d)Article 165

  Answer(b) Article 148 — by warrant under the President's hand and seal.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which of the following is NOT a duty of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India?

  • (a)Auditing expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of India
  • (b)Auditing accounts of government trading and manufacturing concerns
  • (c)Controlling the receipt and issue of public money from the exchequer
  • (d)Auditing expenditure from the Contingency Fund and Public Accounts

  Answer(c) Controlling the receipt and issue of public money — that is an executive/treasury function, not the CAG's.