New Delhi, Oct 4 : The home ministry has declined a request from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) for documents and other material to enable it to carry out an audit of the Padma Awards, The Indian Express reported on Tuesday.
The ministry's decision, says the report, has the backing of India's highest law officer, the Attorney General, and the file has been cleared by Home Minister P Chidambaram, it is learnt.
In a communication to the Home Ministry on April 19, the Director General of Audit (Central Expenditure) sought documents and official records pertaining to the Awards.
CAG wanted, among other documents, a copy of the rules and regulations of the Awards, agenda notes and minutes of meetings of the Padma Awards Committee for the last six years, details of members of the committee for the last six years, and records relating to investigations carried out before the Awards were finally approved.
CAG also asked for a brief note on the procedure for selection of the candidates for the Awards, minutes of review meetings in the last 10 years to revise the criteria for the Awards, year-by-year details of recommendations received by the ministry in the last three years, and complaints about the Awards in the last three years.
The Home Ministry was of the view that since CAG's request didn't pertain to any expenditure, there was “no need to provide the photocopies and files on the Award”.
This was communicated to CAG. But CAG persisted, and wrote to the ministry asserting that the auditor, which is a constitutional body, had the power to carry out “audit review of processes and system involved in finalisation of Padma awardees”.
The ministry then sought the opinion of Attorney General Goolam E Vahnavati, who opined that while the ministry must provide all details and documents pertaining to expenditure on the Awards, there was no need to provide the other documents and files sought by CAG.
The Indian Express report quoted sorces saying that the AG has given the opinion that the duties of CAG pertain to accounts and audit of expenditure.
