MPSC 2026 Prelims Paper-I · Question 83 of 100

Correct — option (3), Article 148. Chapter V of Part V of the Constitution is headed 'Comptroller and Auditor-General of India', and it opens with Article 148, which creates the office itself. Clause (1) provides that there shall be a Comptroller and Auditor-General of India, appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal, and removable only in like manner and on the like grounds as a Judge of the Supreme Court. The word that matters in the stem is 'independent', because everything else in Article 148 is a device to secure that independence. The CAG can be removed only by an order of the President made after an address by each House of Parliament supported by a special majority, on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity — the same protection a Supreme Court judge enjoys, so no government can dismiss an auditor whose findings it dislikes. The salary and conditions of service are determined by Parliament, and Article 148(4) bars any variation to the CAG's disadvantage after appointment. Article 148(6) charges the salary, allowances and pensions of the CAG and the administrative expenses of the office on the Consolidated Fund of India, which means they are not votable in Parliament and cannot be squeezed through the annual grants. Article 148(4) also disqualifies the CAG from any further office under the Government of India or of any State after ceasing to hold office, removing the incentive to please the executive with an eye on a post-retirement appointment. The question separates two adjacent Articles that candidates routinely merge. Article 148 creates the office and protects the holder. Article 149 is the next step — it deals with the duties and powers of the CAG, providing that they shall be such as are prescribed by Parliament, which Parliament did through the Comptroller and Auditor-General's (Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service) Act, 1971. Establishment is 148; duties and powers are 149. The stem asks which Article establishes the independent office, so the answer is option (3).

• (1)Article 141 — Article 141 has nothing to do with audit. It is part of the Supreme Court chapter and provides that the law declared by the Supreme Court shall be binding on all courts within the territory of India — the constitutional basis of binding precedent in India. It appears here only because its number is close to 148 and candidates who have not fixed the Articles in sequence will guess by proximity.
• (2)Article 144 — Article 144 is also from the Supreme Court chapter: all authorities, civil and judicial, in the territory of India shall act in aid of the Supreme Court. It is a provision about assistance to the judiciary, not about financial audit. Note the pattern in this question — two of the three wrong options are drawn from the judiciary chapter, so a candidate who knows only that 'the 140s are about the Supreme Court' can already narrow the field.
• (4)Article 149 — This is the intended near-miss and the only distractor that is genuinely about the CAG. Article 149 provides that the Comptroller and Auditor-General shall perform such duties and exercise such powers in relation to the accounts of the Union and of the States as may be prescribed by or under law made by Parliament — the hook on which the CAG's (Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service) Act, 1971 hangs. But it presupposes an office that already exists; the office is created and insulated by Article 148.

The CAG is the constitutional auditor of the Indian State and the head of the Indian Audit and Accounts Department. The office exists to close the loop that begins when Parliament votes money: the executive spends, and an authority outside the executive certifies whether the money went where the legislature said it should and whether it was spent lawfully and with due regard to economy. That is why the constitutional design places the CAG structurally beyond executive reach. Dr B.R. Ambedkar told the Constituent Assembly that the CAG would be probably the most important officer under the Constitution of India, on the reasoning that the duty to see that expenditure conforms to the authority of the legislature is a duty no less vital than the judiciary's. The CAG's audit reports go to the President, who causes them to be laid before each House of Parliament, and they are then examined by the Public Accounts Committee — the parliamentary link that converts an audit finding into political accountability.

Four Articles, 148 to 151, make up the whole chapter and are best learned as a sequence. Article 148 creates the office and secures its independence; Article 149 leaves the duties and powers to be prescribed by Parliament; Article 150 provides that the accounts of the Union and of the States shall be kept in such form as the President may on the advice of the CAG prescribe; Article 151 requires the CAG's Union reports to be submitted to the President and laid before Parliament, and the State reports to be submitted to the Governor and laid before the State legislature. Two further points are frequently examined. The CAG is an auditor, not an accountant, for the Union and, since the separation of accounts from audit in the mid-1970s, for the Union departments in particular; and under Article 279 it is the CAG who certifies the net proceeds of a tax or duty, that certificate being final. The term of office — six years or until the age of sixty-five, whichever comes earlier — is not in Article 148 itself but in the 1971 Act made under Article 149.

• Article 148 creates the office of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India, appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal, and removable only in like manner and on the like grounds as a Judge of the Supreme Court
• Article 148(4): the CAG's conditions of service cannot be varied to his disadvantage after appointment, and the holder is ineligible for any further office under the Government of India or of any State after ceasing to hold office
• Article 148(6): the salary, allowances and pension of the CAG and the administrative expenses of the office are charged on the Consolidated Fund of India and are therefore non-votable
• Article 149 leaves the CAG's duties and powers to be prescribed by Parliament — done through the Comptroller and Auditor-General's (Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service) Act, 1971; Article 150 covers the form of accounts and Article 151 the submission of audit reports
• Distractor Articles from a different chapter: Article 141 makes Supreme Court law binding on all courts in India, and Article 144 requires all civil and judicial authorities to act in aid of the Supreme Court

• Merging Article 148 with Article 149. The office and its independence are 148; the duties and powers, and the 1971 Act made under them, are 149
• Assuming the CAG's six-year term is written into the Constitution. It is not — the tenure comes from the 1971 Act made under Article 149, and only the mode of appointment and removal is constitutional
• Thinking the CAG's removal follows the impeachment procedure meant for the President. It follows the procedure for a Supreme Court judge: an address by each House supported by a special majority, on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity

MPSC and UPSC both keep this topic in permanent rotation, in three shapes. The first is the direct Article-number question, as here, where the danger is confusing 148 with 149. The second is a statement set on the CAG's independence — salary charged on the Consolidated Fund, no bar-free re-employment, removal like a Supreme Court judge — where one plausible-sounding safeguard is invented. The third is functional: what the CAG can and cannot do, typically testing that the CAG audits but does not prosecute, and that the audit report is acted on by the Public Accounts Committee rather than by the CAG. Learning the chapter as the sequence 148-149-150-151 answers the first shape outright and gives you the vocabulary for the other two.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under which Article of the Constitution are the audit reports of the Comptroller and Auditor-General relating to the accounts of the Union submitted to the President and laid before each House of Parliament ?

  • (a)Article 148
  • (b)Article 149
  • (c)Article 150
  • (d)Article 151

  Answer(d) Article 151 — the CAG's Union reports go to the President, who causes them to be laid before each House of Parliament, and the State reports go to the Governor to be laid before the State legislature. Article 148 creates the office, Article 149 covers duties and powers, and Article 150 covers the form in which the accounts of the Union and the States are kept.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Consider the following about the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India : (a) The salary and allowances of the CAG are charged on the Consolidated Fund of India. (b) The CAG is eligible for further office under the Government of India after ceasing to hold office. Which of the above is/are correct ?

  • (a)Only (a)
  • (b)Only (b)
  • (c)Both (a) and (b)
  • (d)Neither (a) nor (b)

  Answer(a) Only (a) — Article 148(6) charges the CAG's salary, allowances, pension and the office's administrative expenses on the Consolidated Fund of India, making them non-votable. Statement (b) reverses the Constitution: Article 148(4) expressly makes the CAG ineligible for any further office under the Government of India or of any State after ceasing to hold office.