{"id":52529,"date":"2019-09-24T17:49:33","date_gmt":"2019-09-24T12:19:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/?page_id=52529"},"modified":"2019-09-24T17:49:41","modified_gmt":"2019-09-24T12:19:41","slug":"answered-discuss-the-role-of-auditor-general-in-indian-parliamentary-democracy-analyse-whether-india-needs-a-parliament-budget-office-for-more-parliamentary-efficiency","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answered-discuss-the-role-of-auditor-general-in-indian-parliamentary-democracy-analyse-whether-india-needs-a-parliament-budget-office-for-more-parliamentary-efficiency\/","title":{"rendered":"[Answered] Discuss the role of auditor general in Indian Parliamentary democracy. Analyse whether India needs a Parliament Budget Office for more parliamentary efficiency?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Demand of the question<\/strong>
Introduction. <\/strong>Contextual Introduction.
Body. <\/strong>Role of auditor general in parliamentary democracy. Need and advantages of a public budget office.
Conclusion. <\/strong>Way forward. <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

Constitutionally, Comptroller and Auditor General\u2019s Office has been mandated to enhance accountability of the Executive to the Parliament and State legislatures by carrying out audits in the public sector and  providing out accounting services in the States in accordance with the Constitution of India and laws as well as best international  practices. Today, the CAG has been undertaking more performance audits than before and stress is not only just on how much money flows out of the exchequer to make a purchase, but towards  the economy and effectiveness of that purchase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Role of auditor\ngeneral in Indian Parliamentary democracy<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Article 148 of the Constitution provides for a\nCAG with the legal status of a Supreme Court judge.<\/li>
  2. The CAG is sworn in under Article 148(3) to\nuphold the integrity of the nation.<\/li>
  3. It is the duty of the CAG to audit all receipts\nwhich are payable into the Consolidated Fund of India. The rules and procedures\nare designed to ensure an effective check on the assessment, collection and\nproper allocation of revenue.<\/li>
  4. His duty is to uphold the Constitution of India\nand laws of Parliament in the field of financial administration.<\/li>
  5. The accountability of the executive (i.e., the\ncouncil of ministers) to the Parliament in the sphere of financial\nadministration is secured through audit reports of the CAG.<\/li>
  6. The CAG is an agent of the Parliament and\nconducts an audit of expenditure on behalf of the Parliament. Therefore, he is\nresponsible only to the Parliament.<\/li>
  7. The CAG has more freedom with regard to the\naudit of expenditure than with regard to the audit of receipts, stores, and\nstock. \u2015Whereas in relation to expenditure he decides the scope of the audit\nand frames his own audit codes and manuals, he has to proceed with the approval\nof the executive government in relation to rules for the conduct of the other\naudits.<\/li>
  8. CAG has to ascertain whether money shown in the\naccounts as having been disbursed was legally available for and applicable to\nthe service or the purpose to which they have been applied or charged and\nwhether the expenditure conforms to the authority that governs it.<\/li>
  9. In addition to this legal and regulatory audit,\nthe CAG can also conduct the propriety audit, that is, he can look into the\nwisdom, faithfulness and economy \u2018of government expenditure and comment on the\nwastefulness and extravagance of such expenditure.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Need and\nadvantages of having a Parliamentary budget office<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. The role the auditor general performs, is to\nprovide retrospective audits and analysis of the financial accounts and\nperformance of government operations. These audits are often focused on the\nday-to-day goings on of government. A PBO provides prospective, forward-looking\neconomic and fiscal projections, as well as policy costings. This distinguishes\nit from an auditor general, which provides useful information, but only after\nthe fact.<\/li>
    2. MPs in India do not have a staff of high quality\nresearchers (unlike in other developed democracies) to help them gain expertise\nin budgetary matters. A remedy for this may be the establishment of a\nparliamentary budget office (PBO) in India. Such research support can raise the\nquality of debate and scrutiny in Parliament as well as enhance fiscal\ndiscipline. Most importantly, it strengthens the role of Parliament in\nfinancial oversight.<\/li>
    3. India will surely benefit from an institutional\nmechanism that strengthens the capacity of the legislature to hold the\nexecutive responsible in financial matters. The amount of information\nparliamentarians need to scrutinise in Budget documents has exponentially\nincreased and a PBO would assist parliamentarians in this process of scrutiny.<\/li>
    4. It is important to have an independent,\nnon-partisan source for hard facts and evidence. This is particularly important\nfor our Parliament, which controls where and how money flows into our\ngovernment and our country. <\/li>
    5. Regardless of a majority or minority government,\nthis body serves parliamentarians equally and without prejudice. <\/li>
    6. The work done by PBOs naturally ends up in the\npublic sphere, when they do, they help drive smarter, more focused debate in\nthe media and with our electorate.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      The CAG has already to some extent achieved what he set out to do, especially when it comes to redefining the role of the office and the public perception of auditors. A PBO, or a similar independent fiscal institution, will supplement CAG in keeping parliamentary efficiency at par.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Demand of the question Introduction. Contextual Introduction. Body. Role of auditor general in parliamentary democracy. Need and advantages of a public budget office. Conclusion. Way forward. Constitutionally, Comptroller and Auditor General\u2019s Office has been mandated to enhance accountability of the Executive to the Parliament and State legislatures by carrying out audits in the public sector… Continue reading [Answered] Discuss the role of auditor general in Indian Parliamentary democracy. Analyse whether India needs a Parliament Budget Office for more parliamentary efficiency?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":49132,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-52529","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/52529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/52529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}