Manmohan Singh nudges CAG on its responsibility
New Delhi : Even though he did not make a direct reference to the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) report that led to the 2G spectrum scam, Manmohan Singh on Tuesday prodded the watchdog agency to ?sift the wheat from the chaff?.
Speaking at the inauguration of the 150th year celebrations of the CAG, the Prime Minister underlined the seriousness of the work that the government?s auditor performed.
Singh said, ?The reports of the CAG are taken very seriously by the media, by the public, by the government and by our Parliament. This casts a huge responsibility on the institution to ensure that its reports are accurate, balanced and fair.?
?Very often, there is a very thin line between fair criticism and fault finding, between hazarding a guess and making a reasonable estimate, between a bonafide genuine error and a deliberate mistake,? he said.
Even though he steered clear of making an obvious jibe at the body, but his statements did seem to display the effects of their recent report that led to the resignation of his telecom minister.
A Raja was left with no choice but resigning following a brouhaha in the parliament after a CAG report held him ?personally responsible? for causing a loss more than Rs. 1.76 lakh crore to the national exchequer due to ?illogical? sale of 2G telecom spectrum in 2008.
?As an important watchdog in our democracy, it falls upon this institution to sift the wheat from the chaff, to distinguish between wrong-doing and genuine errors, to appreciate the context and circumstances of decision making processes,? Manmohan Singh said on Tuesday.
Despite the the customary bit of back-patting in his speech, the concluding lines of the PMs address were all about underscoring the gravity of the CAG?s testaments.
?..times are changing and so are our needs. The institution will have therefore to further enhance its capabilities and its skills and re-orient itself to deliver results that our nation expects of it in the years that lie ahead,? Singh said.