New Delhi:
Is the government's auditor now taking on the Prime Minister?
In an unprecedented move, Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai has written a strongly-worded letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, protesting against statements made by the latter in his meeting with editors.
The letter, accessed by NDTV through the Right to Information (RTI), says that at no point did he exceed his brief as suggested by the Prime Minister. (Read CAG's letter to PM here)
The exchange is set to increase the tension between Congress politicians and the constitutional authority. Mr Rai has met Dr Singh after this letter.
The Prime Minister had said, "Never has a Comptroller and Auditor General held a press conference as the present CAG has done." Dr Singh had also said, "It was not right for the CAG to go into issues which are not its concern," adding that "it wasn't the CAG's business to comment on policy issues". This was during an interaction with editors in June.
Mr Rai subsequently wrote to Dr Singh, saying, "We follow the mandate given by the Parliament and we have not transgressed our mandate."
He defended the CAG's office in his letter to the PM, saying the "The CAG had never commented on policy issues."
In fact, Mr Rai wrote to the Prime Minister that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) under the then Telecom Minister A Raja not only ignored the Ministry of Finance which had questioned the sanctity of continuing with a price determined in 2001 without current valuation, but also did not follow the PM's own suggestions.
That a confrontation was brewing was evident from a lecture that Mr Rai delivered in Hyderabad last month. The credibility of the government was at its lowest and decision making had become a casualty, the CAG said while delivering the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Memorial Lecture at the National Police Academy. Mr Rai went on to point out that quality of governance was below par and that there had been an erosion of peoples' faith in the government.
Clearly, the last has not been heard on the matter. Mr Rai is scheduled to depose before a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) looking into the 2G spectrum scam on November 14. Sources in the CAG's office have told NDTV that the CAG stands by its valuation of 2G losses, which it pegged at Rs 1.76 lakh crore, and is expected to submit documents to support that conclusion.
In an unprecedented move, Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai has written a strongly-worded letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, protesting against statements made by the latter in his meeting with editors.
The letter, accessed by NDTV through the Right to Information (RTI), says that at no point did he exceed his brief as suggested by the Prime Minister. (Read CAG's letter to PM here)
The exchange is set to increase the tension between Congress politicians and the constitutional authority. Mr Rai has met Dr Singh after this letter.
The Prime Minister had said, "Never has a Comptroller and Auditor General held a press conference as the present CAG has done." Dr Singh had also said, "It was not right for the CAG to go into issues which are not its concern," adding that "it wasn't the CAG's business to comment on policy issues". This was during an interaction with editors in June.
Mr Rai subsequently wrote to Dr Singh, saying, "We follow the mandate given by the Parliament and we have not transgressed our mandate."
He defended the CAG's office in his letter to the PM, saying the "The CAG had never commented on policy issues."
In fact, Mr Rai wrote to the Prime Minister that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) under the then Telecom Minister A Raja not only ignored the Ministry of Finance which had questioned the sanctity of continuing with a price determined in 2001 without current valuation, but also did not follow the PM's own suggestions.
That a confrontation was brewing was evident from a lecture that Mr Rai delivered in Hyderabad last month. The credibility of the government was at its lowest and decision making had become a casualty, the CAG said while delivering the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Memorial Lecture at the National Police Academy. Mr Rai went on to point out that quality of governance was below par and that there had been an erosion of peoples' faith in the government.
Clearly, the last has not been heard on the matter. Mr Rai is scheduled to depose before a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) looking into the 2G spectrum scam on November 14. Sources in the CAG's office have told NDTV that the CAG stands by its valuation of 2G losses, which it pegged at Rs 1.76 lakh crore, and is expected to submit documents to support that conclusion.
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