PATTING itself on the back for influencing change in policy,law,rules,the Comptroller and Auditor General of Indias latest performance audit of itself has clearly indicated that the apex government auditor intends to venture more into areas of policy. The issue has been considered a grey area and has been a subject of conflict between the CAG and the UPA government,particularly in the context of CAG reports on the mode of allotment of natural resources by the government. Independent offices and wings within the CAG audit various departments of the auditor once in three years and a peer review is done once in four years. The performance audit report for 2010-11 was circulated internally on Friday. It said the auditor is making a transition from pointing out individual irregularities to systemic irregularities. While the report did not mention the controversial spectrum allocation report released in November 2010,it says several changes were effected to policy,law,rules based on the CAGs audit observations. The changes in the guidelines of the Armys ration system and the Indian Railways Tatkal and advance reservation system were listed among the CAGs achievements in influencing policy. There is a concerted effort by all audit wings in the department to move from pointing out individual irregularities i.e audit paragraphs to systemic irregularities based on thematic audits. This transition will enable us to focus on systemic issues and evaluate the risks to internal control, the report said. The CAG audit of itself does not divulge much information about its own financial management. And there are no objections. The CAG incurred a total expenditure of Rs 2,247.92 crore against the allotted Rs 2,258.49 crore,of which,85 per cent was spent on salaries and 5.1 per cent on travel. The report points out that Rs 4,446.61 crore was recovered by the government based on the CAGs findings,although state and union governments put the figure at Rs 97,623 crore.
