President wants House standing panels to look into CAG reports

President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday suggested that departmental standing committees should scrutinise CAG reports which could not be taken up by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) due to paucity of time.

Government take action on the recommendations of the PAC and submit action-taken notes to the Committee. Inaugurating the 28th Accountants General Conference organised by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mukherjee said a large volume of reports come to Parliament through CAG on all important transactions in the year. But only a small portion of reports are taken up by PAC "simply because of non availability of time", he said.
"Then what would happen to other transactions which are not chosen by the PAC...one idea I am giving to (Lok Sabha) Speaker (Sumitra Mahajan) she can take it up with the government, Prime Minister and leader of the Houses," he said.

Mukherjee said that Parliament could examine whether rules can be modified to allow department related standing committees scrutinise the CAG reports which had not been examined by the PAC. "Of course, there will be a necessity for political consensus and if the Speaker takes the lead...I think it may be possible to have some sort of additional accountability apart from the job which is being done by the PAC," the President said.
The function was attended by Lok Sabha Speaker Mahajan, PAC Chairman K V Thomas and CAG Shashi Kant Sharma.

The PAC is constituted by Parliament each year for examination of accounts showing the appropriation of sums granted by Parliament for expenditure of government, the annual finance accounts, and other accounts laid before Parliament. The Accountants General from all over the country will participate in the conference and will review the international best practices prevalent in audit and accounting. 

The President further said that public expenditure has increased manifold and the scope and range of governmental activities has risen exponentially. At the time of independence in 1946-47, the receipts of government stood at Rs 3,706 crore and its expenditure at Rs 3,443 crore. In 2014-15, receipts and expenditure had both increased to around Rs 17 lakh crore.

This unprecedented growth has obviously led to newer paradigms in public financial management, Mukherjee said. "The concept of governance is rapidly changing and leveraging technology would enable the government to effectively reach out to the poorest of the poor.

"Increased use of technology platforms would help to ensure that benefits of government schemes and programmes effectively reach the disadvantaged and financially excluded sections of the society," he said. Mukherjee stated that Albert Einstein had once observed, "It is important not to stop questioning" and he was happy to be present in the precincts of an institution whose job is to question.

Speaking on the occasion, Lok Sabha Speaker Mahajan said Goods and Services Tax (GST) is the biggest and most important tax reform to have taken place in the country after independence.

This, she said, is expected to completely transform India's tax administration. "It is quite possible that during the initial phase of implementation of GST, there may be teething troubles. But during such testing times, CAG is expected to examine carefully and give feedback and also guide stakeholders specially that the expected economic benefits of GST are realised...," Mahajan said.