CAG’s performance not up to the mark: Moily

NEW DELHI - Expressing dissatisfaction over the performance of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily Monday said scams “can be halted in mid-stride” if prompt attention is drawn to them “when they are being planned and executed”.

“Post-mortems are good but they can be conducted only when a patient is dead. Scandals and scams are known even when they are being planned and executed. If audit draws attention to them forthwith in a well-published manner, such scandals can be halted mid-stride,” Moily said while inaugurating a two-day conference on Right to Information organised by the Central Information Commission.

The minister remarked that the CAG has failed in performing to its own conceptual framework.

“CAG has not fulfilled for what it was conceptualised by the constitution framers,” he said stating that it was designed to stop corruption.

The minister added that changes were needed to make the CAG more affective.

“Countries like Britain and Japan have made changes to their audit norms making them more effective. We must take tips from them,” he added.