New Delhi:
Chairman of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Murli Manohar Joshi has praised the team of government auditors for its diligence. Recently, the Prime Minister was among those who have suggested that the government's auditors have been exceeding their brief.
"The CAG is required to play a major role in reporting to the Parliament whether public assets are not sold to private players for a song. It is unfortunate that quite recently ... a section of the press and even some parliamentarians have tried to whittle down the credibility of the institution of the CAG," he remarked.
"While parliamentarians in India by and large have always accorded due regard and respect to the CAG and his officers, however sometimes, unable to stomach fair critical comments in CAG's reports, ministers have reacted in an unsavoury manner," he added.
At a press conference later this afternoon, Murli Manohar Joshi firmly denied that he had influenced the CAG report on the 2G spectrum scam. He said he was in touch with the government's auditors to enquire on the status of the report. "There is an attempt to dismantle and defame these institutions,' said Mr Joshi.
The government's auditor has also refuted allegations that the senior BJP leader tried to influence its report on the telecom scam. In July last year, Mr Joshi who heads the Public Accounts Committee in Parliament, allegedly phoned the auditors and asked them to complete their report in time for the Monsoon Session of Parliament.
Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has suggested Mr Joshi may have tried to pressure the auditors to inflate the losses of the scam. The report- submitted to the Parliament in November 2010 triggered a political avalanche by declaring the losses from the scam to be worth 1.76 lakh crores.
A statement from the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) clarified, "There was no pressure from any quarter on this department with regard to the audit of allocation of 2G spectrum. CAG has always taken a very stern view of any attempts of pressure or interference in the discharge of his constitutional duties and functions."
A letter written by a CAG official in July last year says that Mr Joshi also urged the auditors to brief the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the progress in their review of how spectrum and licenses were allocated.
The statement released today says that while the team of auditors was available to assist the committee as it surveyed the details of telecom policies, "The CAG also made it clear to the Public Accounts Committee that audit findings cannot be shared with anyone including PAC before being tabled in Parliament"
How licenses were allocated - and why spectrum was given away at no extra cost - to companies in 2008 is what has landed former Telecom Minister A Raja in jail. He allegedly twisted policies so that companies he favoured got out-of-turn licenses at dream rates.
What he cost the country as a result has become a matter of political debate and consequence. The report tabled in Parliament by Vinod Rai, the CAG, said the losses were worth 1.76 lakh crores. His junior, RP Singh, who actually conducted the audit, says this figure is "a mathematical guess" and that the actual losses were in the neighbourhood of 2000 crores. Both men have stuck to their figures while testifying for another parliamentary committee examining the telecom scam. The Joint Parliamentary Committee brings together about 30 MPs from different parties and is trying to assign accountability for the alleged swindle.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the government is working on amendments to make the institution of the CAG better equipped. "In a complex world, not every decision by the government may be optimum," Mr Mukherjee remarked.