Recently, Manish Tewari, spokesman of the ruling Congress party and an MP, questioned the role of CAG in Government’s policy matters. Participating in a debate inside Lok Sabha(Monsoon Session, August,2011), he asked,
“Does CAG have the remit to comment on an appointment process as also the policy choices which a government makes or may not make”?
“Even when it chooses to comment on the appointment process in the context of the Games it errs,” he added.
Regarding functioning of CAG he said it could be best termed as, “pips, leaks and squeaks”.
It’s because of CAG we now know that UPA is a den of scams and scamsters. By questioning its authority and asking it to stick to ‘accounting’ and ‘auditing’ Manish Tewari has insulted the framers of our Constitution.
While referring debates of the Constituent Assembly, I came across these following lines by member of the Constituent Assembly which drafted our Constitution, Dr.B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya:
“…..The Comptroller and the Auditor-General must be as supreme and independent as the Judges of the Supreme Court perhaps even more so. He is not merely an Accountant-General, but he represents a judicial authority with a judicial frame of mind, and his acts must be acts of justice between what he considers to be right and what is actually done by the executive. At times he is called upon to criticise the executive and to expose it even to contempt………………………………we shall have placed the Auditor-General and the Comptroller as the supreme arbiter of India’s finances, and then alone our Swaraj will be a proper Swaraj.” (for link)
UPA government weakened by torrent of scams, is taking refuge by condemning the very institutions that have become bulwark of India’s democracy. Contempt for these institutions will prove dearer in the long term for the Congress party.
