Comptroller and Auditor General of India

"I,(name of the person being appointed), having appointed Comptroller and Auditor-General of India do swear in the name of God/solemnly affirm that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established, that I will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India, that I will duly and faithfully and to the best of my ability, knowledge and judgement perform the duties of my office without fear or favour, affection or ill-will and that I will uphold the Constitution and the laws."

As per the provisions of the constitution, the CAG's (DPC) (Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service) Act, 1971 was enacted. As per the various provisions, the duties of the CAG include the audit of:

• Receipts and expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of India and of the State and Union Territory having legislative assembly.
• Trading, manufacturing, profit and loss accounts and balance sheets, and other subsidiary accounts kept in any Government department; Accounts of stores and stock kept in Government offices or departments.
• Government companies as per the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013.
• Corporations established by or under laws made by Parliament in accordance with the provisions of the respective legislation.
• Authorities and bodies substantially financed from the Consolidated Funds of the Union and State Governments. Anybody or authority even though not substantially financed from the Consolidated Fund, the audit of which may be entrusted to the C&AG.
• Grants and loans given by Government to bodies and authorities for specific purposes.
• Entrusted audits e.g. those of Panchayati Raj Institutions and Urban Local Bodies under Technical Guidance & Support (TGS).

Recently the CAG under Vinod Rai has constantly been in the limelight for its reports exposing mega corruption, particularly in 2G spectrum case, Commonwealth Games scam, Coal mine allocation scam and others.[10][11]

In June 2012, Lal Krishna Advani a veteran Indian politician and former Deputy Prime Minister of India (as well as former Leader of the Opposition in Indian Parliament)[12] suggested that CAG's appointment should be made by a bipartisan collegium consisting of the prime minister, the Chief Justice of India, the Law Minister and the Leaders of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.[13][14] Subsequently, M Karunanidhi, the head of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party and five times Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu[15] supported the suggestion. Advani made this demand to remove any impression of bias or lack of transparency and fairness because, according to him, the current system was open to "manipulation and partisanship".[13][14] Similar demand was made by many former CEC's such as B B Tandon, N Gopalaswamy and S Y Quraishi,[16] however the government did not seem too keen.[17]

CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta wrote a letter to the PM and demand CAG be appointed by the collegium of consisting the PM, the CJI and the leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha but the PM declined. Former CAG V. K. Shunglu has suggested in its CWG scam report that CAG be made a multi-member body.[18]

PMO minister V.Narayanasamy in his interview with PTI said Government is considering the Shunglu panel report but PM and Finance Minister declined it. Later V. Narayanasamy said he misquoted but PTI reaffirmed it.[19]

A CAG report on issue of Licences and Allocation of 2G Spectrum[30] resulted in a huge controversy. The report estimated that there was a presumptive loss of ₹1,766 billion (US$25 billion) by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.[31] In a chargesheet filed on 2 April 2011 by the investigating agency Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the agency pegged the loss at ₹310 billion (US$4.3 billion)[32]

All the speculations of profit, loss and no-loss were put to rest on 2 February 2012 when the Supreme Court of India on a public interest litigation (PIL) declared allotment of spectrum as "unconstitutional and arbitrary" and quashed all the 122 licenses issued in 2008 during tenure of A. Raja (then minister for communications & IT in the UPA government) the main accused.[33] The court further said that A. Raja "wanted to favour some companies at the cost of the public exchequer" and "virtually gifted away important national asset".[34]

Revenue loss calculation was further established on 3 August 2012 when according to the directions of the Supreme Court, Govt of India revised the reserve price for 2G spectrum to ₹140 billion (US$2.0 billion).[35][36]

However, the special court in New Delhi acquitted all accused in the 2G spectrum case including prime accused A Raja and Kanimozhi on December 21, 2017, the verdict was based on the fact that CBI could not find any evidence against the accused in those 7 years. Per the judgement, "Some people created a scam by artfully arranging a few selected facts and exaggerating things beyond recognition to astronomical levels."

A 2012 CAG report on coal mine allocation[37] received massive media and political reaction as well as public outrage. During the 2012 monsoon session of the Parliament, the BJP protested the Government's handling of the issue demanding the resignation of the prime minister and refused to have a debate in the Parliament. The deadlock resulted in Parliament functioning only seven of the twenty days of the session.[38][39]

The CAG report criticised the Government by saying it had the authority to allocate coal blocks by a process of competitive bidding, but chose not to.[40] As a result, both public sector enterprises (PSEs) and private firms paid less than they might have otherwise. In its draft report in March, the CAG estimated that the "windfall gain" to the allocatees was ₹10,673 billion (US$150 billion).[40] The CAG Final Report tabled in Parliament put the figure at ₹1,856 billion (US$26 billion)[41]

While the initial CAG report suggested that coal blocks could have been allocated more efficiently, resulting in more revenue to the government, at no point did it suggest that corruption was involved in the allocation of coal. Over the course of 2012, however, the question of corruption came to dominate the discussion. In response to a complaint by the BJP, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) directed the CBI to investigate the matter. The CBI named a dozen Indian firms in a First Information Report (FIR), the first step in a criminal investigation. These FIRs accuse them of overstating their net worth, failing to disclose prior coal allocations, and hoarding rather than developing coal allocations.[42][43] The CBI officials investigating the case have speculated that bribery may be involved.[42]

The scandal was first exposed due to the CAG report in the matter in December 1995. The report alleged of fraudulent withdrawal of government funds worth ₹9.5 billion (US$130 million) in the Bihar animal husbandry department against non-existent supplies of fodder and medicines.[44] Subsequently, based on Patna High Court's orders, CBI investigated the case and registered as many as 63 cases. Many accused have been convicted while many cases are still under trial.[45]

The oil ministry imposed a fine of ₹7000 crores on Mukesh Ambani's company for the sharp drop in production of gas and violations mentioned in CAG's 2011 report. Oil ministry did not approve company's US$7.2 billion stake in deal with BP.[46][47][48] So Jaipal Reddy known for his honesty was shifted from oil ministry to the Science and Technology ministry owing to pressure from Reliance group of Industries.[49][50][51] RIL allowed the CAG to begin the audit in April this year after stalling it for a year. But unresolved issues could stall audit of KG Basin again.[52] Then Reliance appointed Defence Secretary Shashikant Sharma as new CAG to audit KG Basin, said Prashant Bhushan.[53] In KG D-6, most of the cost had been recovered by the private player and the increase in price would only go as profit. About 90% of receipts from K-G D-6 were so far booked as expenditure and in the remaining 10%, only 1% was paid to the government and rest 9% went to the operator as profit.[54]