jbp123/hello · Datasets at Hugging Face

instruction stringlengths 1 84	input stringlengths 1 85	output stringlengths 1 83
6. The administrative expenses of the office of the CAG,	including all salaries, allowances and pensions of persons	serving in that office are charged upon the Consolidated
Fund of India. Thus, they are not subject to the vote of	Parliament.	Further, no minister can represent the CAG in Parliament (both
DUTIES AND POWERS	The Constitution (Article 149) authorises the Parliament to	prescribe the duties and powers of the CAG in relation to the
accounts of the Union and of the states and of any other authority	or body. Accordingly, the Parliament enacted the CAG’s (Duties,	Powers and Conditions of Service) act, 1971. This Act was
amended in 1976 to separate accounts from audit in the Central	government.	The duties and functions of the CAG as laid down by the
Parliament and the Constitution are:	1. He audits the accounts related to all expenditure from the	Consolidated Fund of India, consolidated fund of each state
and consolidated fund of each union territory having a	Legislative Assembly.	2. He audits all expenditure from the Contingency Fund of
India and the Public Account of India as well as the	contingency fund of each state and the public account of	each state.
3. He audits all trading, manufacturing, profit and loss	accounts, balance sheets and other subsidiary accounts	kept by any department of the Central Government and state
governments.	4. He audits the receipts and expenditure of the Centre and	each state to satisfy himself that the rules and procedures in
that behalf are designed to secure an effective check on the	assessment, collection and proper allocation of revenue.	5. He audits the receipts and expenditure of the following:
(a) All bodies and authorities substantially financed from the	Central or state revenues;	(b) Government companies; and
(c) Other corporations and bodies, when so required by	related laws.	6. He audits all transactions of the Central and state
governments related to debt, sinking funds, deposits,	advances, suspense accounts and remittance business. He	also audits receipts, stock accounts and others, with
approval of the President, or when required by the	President.	7. He audits the accounts of any other authority when
requested by the President or Governor. For example, the	audit of local bodies.	8. He advises the President with regard to prescription of the
form in which the accounts of the Centre and the states shall	be kept (Article 150).	9. He submits his audit reports relating to the accounts of the
Centre to President, who shall, in turn, place them before	both the Houses of Parliament (Article 151).	10. He submits his audit reports relating to the accounts of a
state to governor, who shall, in turn, place them before the	state legislature (Article 151).	11. He ascertains and certifies the net proceeds of any tax or
duty (Article 279). His certificate is final. The ‘net proceeds’	means the proceeds of a tax or a duty minus the cost of	collection.
12. He acts as a guide, friend and philosopher of the Public	Accounts Committee of the Parliament.	13. He compiles and maintains the accounts of state
governments. In 1976, he was relieved of his responsibilities	with regard to the compilation and maintenance of accounts	of the Central Government due to the separation of accounts
from audit, that is, departmentalisation of accounts.	The CAG submits three audit reports to the President–audit	report on appropriation accounts, audit report on finance
accounts, and audit report on public undertakings. The President	lays these reports before both the Houses of Parliament. After	this, the Public Accounts Committee examines them and reports
its findings to the Parliament.	The appropriation accounts compare the actual expenditure	with the expenditure sanctioned by the Parliament through the
ROLE	The role of CAG is to uphold the Constitution of India and the laws	of Parliament in the field of financial administration. The
accountability of the executive (i.e., council of ministers) to the	Parliament in the sphere of financial administration is secured	through audit reports of the CAG. The CAG is an agent of the
Parliament and conducts audit of expenditure on behalf of the	Parliament. Therefore, he is responsible only to the Parliament.	The CAG has more freedom with regard to audit of expenditure
than with regard to audit of receipts, stores and stock. “Whereas	in relation to expenditure he decides the scope of audit and	frames his own audit codes and manuals, he has to proceed with
the approval of the executive government in relation to rules for	the conduct of the other audits.”3a	The CAG has ‘to ascertain whether money shown in the
accounts as having been disbursed was legally available for and	applicable to the service or the purpose to which they have been	applied or charged and whether the expenditure conforms to the
authority that governs it’. In addition to this legal and regulatory	audit, the CAG can also conduct the propriety audit, that is, he	can look into the ‘wisdom, faithfulness and economy’ of
government expenditure and comment on the wastefulness and	extravagance of such expenditure. However, unlike the legal and	regulatory audit, which is obligatory on the part of the CAG, the
propriety audit is discretionary.	The secret service expenditure is a limitation on the auditing	role of the CAG. In this regard, the CAG cannot call for particulars
of expenditure incurred by the executive agencies, but has to	accept a certificate from the competent administrative authority	that the expenditure has been so incurred under his authority.
The Constitution of India visualises the CAG to be Comptroller	as well as Auditor General. However, in practice, the CAG is	fulfilling the role of an Auditor-General only and not that of a
Comptroller. In other words, ‘the CAG has no control over the	issue of money from the consolidated fund and many departments	are authorised to draw money by issuing cheques without specific
authority from the CAG, who is concerned only at the audit stage	when the expenditure has already taken place’4. In this respect,	the CAG of India differs totally from the CAG of Britain who has
powers of both Comptroller as well as Auditor General. In other	words, in Britain, the executive can draw money from the public	exchequer only with the approval of the CAG.
CAG AND CORPORATIONS	The role of CAG in the auditing of public corporations is limited.	Broadly speaking, his relationship with the public corporations falls
into the following three categories:	(i) Some corporations are audited totally and directly by the	CAG, for example, Damodar Valley Corporation, Oil and
Natural Gas Commission, Air India, Indian Airlines	Corporation, and others.	(ii) Some other corporations are audited by private professional
auditors who are appointed by the Central Government in	consultation with the CAG. If necessary, the CAG can conduct	supplementary audit. The examples are, Central Warehousing
Corporation, Industrial Finance Corporation, and others.	(iii) Some other corporations are totally subjected to private audit.	In other words, their audit is done exclusively by private
professional auditors and the CAG does not come into the	picture at all. They submit their annual reports and accounts	directly to the Parliament. Examples of such corporations are
Life Insurance Corporation of India, Reserve Bank of India,	State Bank of India, Food Corporation of India, and others.	The role of the CAG in the auditing of Government companies
is also limited. They are audited by private auditors who are	appointed by the Government on the advise of the CAG. The CAG	can also undertake supplementary audit or test audit of such
companies.	In 1968, an Audit Board was established as a part of the office	of CAG to associate outside specialists and experts to handle the
technical aspects of audit of specialised enterprises like	engineering, iron and steel, chemicals and so on. This board was	established on the recommendations of the Administrative
APPLEBY’S CRITICISM	Paul H Appleby, in his two reports on Indian Administration, was	very critical of the role of CAG and attacked the significance of his
work5. He also suggested that the CAG should be relieved of the	responsibility of audit. In other words, he recommended the	abolition of the office of CAG. His points of criticism of Indian audit
are as follows:	1. The function of the CAG in India, is in a large measure, an	inheritance from the colonial rule.
2. The CAG is today a primary cause of widespread and	paralysing unwillingness to decide and to act. Auditing has a	repressive and negative influence.
3. The Parliament has a greatly exaggerated notion of the	importance of auditing to Parliamentary responsibility, and	so has failed to define the functions of the CAG as the
Constitution contemplated it would do.	4. The CAG’s function is not really a very important one.	Auditors do not know and cannot be expected to know very
much about good administration; their prestige is highest	with others who do not know much about administration.	5. Auditors know what is auditing, which is not administration; it
is a necessary, but a highly pedestrian function with a	narrow perspective and a very limited usefulness.	6. A deputy secretary in the department knows more about the
problems in his department than the CAG and his entire	staff.	Table 51.1 Articles Related to Comptroller and Auditor-General of
India at a Glance	Article No. Subject-matter	148. Comptroller and Auditor-General of India
149. Duties and powers of the Comptroller and Auditor-	General	150. Form of accounts of the Union and of the States
151. Audit reports	NOTES AND REFERENCES	1. The Indian Audit and Accounts Department was created
during the British rule in 1753.	2. Constituent Assembly Debates, Volume VIII, p. 405.	3. In 2018, the salary of a judge of the Supreme Court had
been fixed at ₹2.50 lakh per month.	3a. Wattal, P.K., Parliamentary Financial Control in India,	Second Edition. Bombay: Minerva Book Shop, 1962, p.
235.	4. D.D. Basu, Introduction to the Constitution of India,	Wadhwa, 19th Edition, 2001, p. 198.
5. The two reports are: Public Administration in India	(1953) and Re-examination of India’s Administrative	System, 1956.
52 Attorney General of India	T	he Constitution (Article 76) has provided for the office of
APPOINTMENT AND TERM	The Attorney General (AG) is appointed by the president. He must	be a person who is qualified to be appointed a judge of the
Supreme Court. In other words, he must be a citizen of India and	he must have been a judge of some high court for five years or an	advocate of some high court for ten years or an eminent jurist, in
the opinion of the president.	The term of office of the AG is not fixed by the Constitution.	Further, the Constitution does not contain the procedure and
grounds for his removal. He holds office during the pleasure of the	president. This means that he may be removed by the president	at any time. He may also quit his office by submitting his
resignation to the president. Conventionally, he resigns when the	government (council of ministers) resigns or is replaced, as he is	appointed on its advice.
DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS	As the chief law officer of the Government of India, the duties of	the AG include the following:
1. To give advice to the Government of India upon such legal	matters, which are referred to him by the president.	2. To perform such other duties of a legal character that are
assigned to him by the president.	3. To discharge the functions conferred on him by the	Constitution or any other law.
The president has assigned the following duties to the AG2 :	1. To appear on behalf of the Government of India in all cases	in the Supreme Court in which the Government of India is
concerned.	2. To represent the Government of India in any reference made	by the president to the Supreme Court under Article 143 of
the Constitution.	3. To appear (when required by the Government of India) in	any high court in any case in which the Government of India
RIGHTS AND LIMITATIONS	In the performance of his official duties, the Attorney General has	the right of audience in all courts in the territory of India. Further,
he has the right to speak and to take part in the proceedings of	both the Houses of Parliament or their joint sitting and any	committee of the Parliament of which he may be named a
member, but without a right to vote. He enjoys all the privileges	and immunities that are available to a member of Parliament.	Following limitations are placed on the Attorney General in
order to avoid any complication and conflict of duty:	1. He should not advise or hold a brief against the Government	of India.
2. He should not advise or hold a brief in cases in which he is	called upon to advise or appear for the Government of India.	3. He should not defend accused persons in criminal
prosecutions without the permission of the Government of	India.	4. He should not accept appointment as a director in any
company or corporation without the permission of the	Government of India.	5. He should not advise any ministry or department of
Government of India or any statutory organization or any	public sector undertaking unless the proposal or a reference	in this regard is received through the Ministry of Law and
Justice, Department of Legal Affairs2a.	However, the Attorney General is not a fulltime counsel for the	Government. He does not fall in the category of government
SOLICITOR GENERAL OF INDIA	In addition to the AG, there are other law officers of the	Government of India. They are the solicitor general of India and
additional solicitor general of India. They assist the AG in the	fulfilment of his official responsibilities. It should be noted here that	only the office of the AG is created by the Constitution. In other
words, Article 76 does not mention about the solicitor general and	additional solicitor general.	The AG is not a member of the Central cabinet. There is a
separate law minister in the Central cabinet to look after legal	matters at the government level3 .	Table 52.1 Articles Related to Attorney-General of India at a
Glance	Article No. Subject-matter	76. Attorney-General of India
88. Rights of Attorney-General as respects the	Houses of Parliament and its Committee	105. Powers, privileges and immunities of Attorney-
General	NOTES AND REFERENCES	1. Article 76 of Chapter 1 (The Executive) in Part V (The
Union) of the Constitution deals with the office of the	Attorney General of India. This is the only Article dealing	with this office.
2. Notification No. F. 43–50C, 26 January 1950, Gazette of	India, Extraordinary, Volume VII, p. 33–34.	2a. Inserted vide G.S.R..... (E) dated 25th February, 2005.
3. During the prime ministership of Jawaharlal Nehru, a	proposal was put forward by the Central government	that the office of the Attorney General be merged with
53 Advocate General of the State	T	he Constitution (Article 165) has provided for the office of
the advocate general for the states.1 He is the highest law	officer in the state. Thus he corresponds to the Attorney	General of India.
APPOINTMENT AND TERM	The advocate general is appointed by the governor. He must be a	person who is qualified to be appointed a judge of a high court. In
other words, he must be a citizen of India and must have held a	judicial office2 for ten years or been an advocate of a high court	for ten years3 .

6. The administrative expenses of the office of the CAG,

including all salaries, allowances and pensions of persons

serving in that office are charged upon the Consolidated

Fund of India. Thus, they are not subject to the vote of

Parliament.

Further, no minister can represent the CAG in Parliament (both

DUTIES AND POWERS

The Constitution (Article 149) authorises the Parliament to

prescribe the duties and powers of the CAG in relation to the

accounts of the Union and of the states and of any other authority

or body. Accordingly, the Parliament enacted the CAG’s (Duties,

Powers and Conditions of Service) act, 1971. This Act was

amended in 1976 to separate accounts from audit in the Central

government.

The duties and functions of the CAG as laid down by the

Parliament and the Constitution are:

1. He audits the accounts related to all expenditure from the

Consolidated Fund of India, consolidated fund of each state

and consolidated fund of each union territory having a

Legislative Assembly.

2. He audits all expenditure from the Contingency Fund of

India and the Public Account of India as well as the

contingency fund of each state and the public account of

each state.

3. He audits all trading, manufacturing, profit and loss

accounts, balance sheets and other subsidiary accounts

kept by any department of the Central Government and state

governments.

4. He audits the receipts and expenditure of the Centre and

each state to satisfy himself that the rules and procedures in

that behalf are designed to secure an effective check on the

assessment, collection and proper allocation of revenue.

5. He audits the receipts and expenditure of the following:

(a) All bodies and authorities substantially financed from the

Central or state revenues;

(b) Government companies; and

(c) Other corporations and bodies, when so required by

related laws.

6. He audits all transactions of the Central and state

governments related to debt, sinking funds, deposits,

advances, suspense accounts and remittance business. He

also audits receipts, stock accounts and others, with

approval of the President, or when required by the

President.

7. He audits the accounts of any other authority when

requested by the President or Governor. For example, the

audit of local bodies.

8. He advises the President with regard to prescription of the

form in which the accounts of the Centre and the states shall

be kept (Article 150).

9. He submits his audit reports relating to the accounts of the

Centre to President, who shall, in turn, place them before

both the Houses of Parliament (Article 151).

10. He submits his audit reports relating to the accounts of a

state to governor, who shall, in turn, place them before the

state legislature (Article 151).

11. He ascertains and certifies the net proceeds of any tax or

duty (Article 279). His certificate is final. The ‘net proceeds’

means the proceeds of a tax or a duty minus the cost of

collection.

12. He acts as a guide, friend and philosopher of the Public

Accounts Committee of the Parliament.

13. He compiles and maintains the accounts of state

governments. In 1976, he was relieved of his responsibilities

with regard to the compilation and maintenance of accounts

of the Central Government due to the separation of accounts

from audit, that is, departmentalisation of accounts.

The CAG submits three audit reports to the President–audit

report on appropriation accounts, audit report on finance

accounts, and audit report on public undertakings. The President

lays these reports before both the Houses of Parliament. After

this, the Public Accounts Committee examines them and reports

its findings to the Parliament.

The appropriation accounts compare the actual expenditure

with the expenditure sanctioned by the Parliament through the

ROLE

The role of CAG is to uphold the Constitution of India and the laws

of Parliament in the field of financial administration. The

accountability of the executive (i.e., council of ministers) to the

Parliament in the sphere of financial administration is secured

through audit reports of the CAG. The CAG is an agent of the

Parliament and conducts audit of expenditure on behalf of the

Parliament. Therefore, he is responsible only to the Parliament.

The CAG has more freedom with regard to audit of expenditure

than with regard to audit of receipts, stores and stock. “Whereas

in relation to expenditure he decides the scope of audit and

frames his own audit codes and manuals, he has to proceed with

the approval of the executive government in relation to rules for

the conduct of the other audits.”3a

The CAG has ‘to ascertain whether money shown in the

accounts as having been disbursed was legally available for and

applicable to the service or the purpose to which they have been

applied or charged and whether the expenditure conforms to the

authority that governs it’. In addition to this legal and regulatory

audit, the CAG can also conduct the propriety audit, that is, he

can look into the ‘wisdom, faithfulness and economy’ of

government expenditure and comment on the wastefulness and

extravagance of such expenditure. However, unlike the legal and

regulatory audit, which is obligatory on the part of the CAG, the

propriety audit is discretionary.

The secret service expenditure is a limitation on the auditing

role of the CAG. In this regard, the CAG cannot call for particulars

of expenditure incurred by the executive agencies, but has to

accept a certificate from the competent administrative authority

that the expenditure has been so incurred under his authority.

The Constitution of India visualises the CAG to be Comptroller

as well as Auditor General. However, in practice, the CAG is

fulfilling the role of an Auditor-General only and not that of a

Comptroller. In other words, ‘the CAG has no control over the

issue of money from the consolidated fund and many departments

are authorised to draw money by issuing cheques without specific

authority from the CAG, who is concerned only at the audit stage

when the expenditure has already taken place’4. In this respect,

the CAG of India differs totally from the CAG of Britain who has

powers of both Comptroller as well as Auditor General. In other

words, in Britain, the executive can draw money from the public

exchequer only with the approval of the CAG.

CAG AND CORPORATIONS

The role of CAG in the auditing of public corporations is limited.

Broadly speaking, his relationship with the public corporations falls

into the following three categories:

(i) Some corporations are audited totally and directly by the

CAG, for example, Damodar Valley Corporation, Oil and

Natural Gas Commission, Air India, Indian Airlines

Corporation, and others.

(ii) Some other corporations are audited by private professional

auditors who are appointed by the Central Government in

consultation with the CAG. If necessary, the CAG can conduct

supplementary audit. The examples are, Central Warehousing

Corporation, Industrial Finance Corporation, and others.

(iii) Some other corporations are totally subjected to private audit.

In other words, their audit is done exclusively by private

professional auditors and the CAG does not come into the

picture at all. They submit their annual reports and accounts

directly to the Parliament. Examples of such corporations are

Life Insurance Corporation of India, Reserve Bank of India,

State Bank of India, Food Corporation of India, and others.

The role of the CAG in the auditing of Government companies

is also limited. They are audited by private auditors who are

appointed by the Government on the advise of the CAG. The CAG

can also undertake supplementary audit or test audit of such

companies.

In 1968, an Audit Board was established as a part of the office

of CAG to associate outside specialists and experts to handle the

technical aspects of audit of specialised enterprises like

engineering, iron and steel, chemicals and so on. This board was

established on the recommendations of the Administrative

APPLEBY’S CRITICISM

Paul H Appleby, in his two reports on Indian Administration, was

very critical of the role of CAG and attacked the significance of his

work5. He also suggested that the CAG should be relieved of the

responsibility of audit. In other words, he recommended the

abolition of the office of CAG. His points of criticism of Indian audit

are as follows:

1. The function of the CAG in India, is in a large measure, an

inheritance from the colonial rule.

2. The CAG is today a primary cause of widespread and

paralysing unwillingness to decide and to act. Auditing has a

repressive and negative influence.

3. The Parliament has a greatly exaggerated notion of the

importance of auditing to Parliamentary responsibility, and

so has failed to define the functions of the CAG as the

Constitution contemplated it would do.

4. The CAG’s function is not really a very important one.

Auditors do not know and cannot be expected to know very

much about good administration; their prestige is highest

with others who do not know much about administration.

5. Auditors know what is auditing, which is not administration; it

is a necessary, but a highly pedestrian function with a

narrow perspective and a very limited usefulness.

6. A deputy secretary in the department knows more about the

problems in his department than the CAG and his entire

staff.

Table 51.1 Articles Related to Comptroller and Auditor-General of

India at a Glance

Article No. Subject-matter

148. Comptroller and Auditor-General of India

149. Duties and powers of the Comptroller and Auditor-

General

150. Form of accounts of the Union and of the States

151. Audit reports

NOTES AND REFERENCES

1. The Indian Audit and Accounts Department was created

during the British rule in 1753.

2. Constituent Assembly Debates, Volume VIII, p. 405.

3. In 2018, the salary of a judge of the Supreme Court had

been fixed at ₹2.50 lakh per month.

3a. Wattal, P.K., Parliamentary Financial Control in India,

Second Edition. Bombay: Minerva Book Shop, 1962, p.

235.

4. D.D. Basu, Introduction to the Constitution of India,

Wadhwa, 19th Edition, 2001, p. 198.

5. The two reports are: Public Administration in India

(1953) and Re-examination of India’s Administrative

System, 1956.

52 Attorney General of India

T

he Constitution (Article 76) has provided for the office of

APPOINTMENT AND TERM

The Attorney General (AG) is appointed by the president. He must

be a person who is qualified to be appointed a judge of the

Supreme Court. In other words, he must be a citizen of India and

he must have been a judge of some high court for five years or an

advocate of some high court for ten years or an eminent jurist, in

the opinion of the president.

The term of office of the AG is not fixed by the Constitution.

Further, the Constitution does not contain the procedure and

grounds for his removal. He holds office during the pleasure of the

president. This means that he may be removed by the president

at any time. He may also quit his office by submitting his

resignation to the president. Conventionally, he resigns when the

government (council of ministers) resigns or is replaced, as he is

appointed on its advice.

DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS

As the chief law officer of the Government of India, the duties of

the AG include the following:

1. To give advice to the Government of India upon such legal

matters, which are referred to him by the president.

2. To perform such other duties of a legal character that are

assigned to him by the president.

3. To discharge the functions conferred on him by the

Constitution or any other law.

The president has assigned the following duties to the AG2 :

1. To appear on behalf of the Government of India in all cases

in the Supreme Court in which the Government of India is

concerned.

2. To represent the Government of India in any reference made

by the president to the Supreme Court under Article 143 of

the Constitution.

3. To appear (when required by the Government of India) in

any high court in any case in which the Government of India

RIGHTS AND LIMITATIONS

In the performance of his official duties, the Attorney General has

the right of audience in all courts in the territory of India. Further,

he has the right to speak and to take part in the proceedings of

both the Houses of Parliament or their joint sitting and any

committee of the Parliament of which he may be named a

member, but without a right to vote. He enjoys all the privileges

and immunities that are available to a member of Parliament.

Following limitations are placed on the Attorney General in

order to avoid any complication and conflict of duty:

1. He should not advise or hold a brief against the Government

of India.

2. He should not advise or hold a brief in cases in which he is

called upon to advise or appear for the Government of India.

3. He should not defend accused persons in criminal

prosecutions without the permission of the Government of

India.

4. He should not accept appointment as a director in any

company or corporation without the permission of the

Government of India.

5. He should not advise any ministry or department of

Government of India or any statutory organization or any

public sector undertaking unless the proposal or a reference

in this regard is received through the Ministry of Law and

Justice, Department of Legal Affairs2a.

However, the Attorney General is not a fulltime counsel for the

Government. He does not fall in the category of government

SOLICITOR GENERAL OF INDIA

In addition to the AG, there are other law officers of the

Government of India. They are the solicitor general of India and

additional solicitor general of India. They assist the AG in the

fulfilment of his official responsibilities. It should be noted here that

only the office of the AG is created by the Constitution. In other

words, Article 76 does not mention about the solicitor general and

additional solicitor general.

The AG is not a member of the Central cabinet. There is a

separate law minister in the Central cabinet to look after legal

matters at the government level3 .

Table 52.1 Articles Related to Attorney-General of India at a

Glance

Article No. Subject-matter

76. Attorney-General of India

88. Rights of Attorney-General as respects the

Houses of Parliament and its Committee

105. Powers, privileges and immunities of Attorney-

General

NOTES AND REFERENCES

1. Article 76 of Chapter 1 (The Executive) in Part V (The

Union) of the Constitution deals with the office of the

Attorney General of India. This is the only Article dealing

with this office.

2. Notification No. F. 43–50C, 26 January 1950, Gazette of

India, Extraordinary, Volume VII, p. 33–34.

2a. Inserted vide G.S.R..... (E) dated 25th February, 2005.

3. During the prime ministership of Jawaharlal Nehru, a

proposal was put forward by the Central government

that the office of the Attorney General be merged with

53 Advocate General of the State

T

he Constitution (Article 165) has provided for the office of

the advocate general for the states.1 He is the highest law

officer in the state. Thus he corresponds to the Attorney

General of India.

APPOINTMENT AND TERM

The advocate general is appointed by the governor. He must be a

person who is qualified to be appointed a judge of a high court. In

other words, he must be a citizen of India and must have held a

judicial office2 for ten years or been an advocate of a high court

for ten years3 .