Role of Cag

Duties and Powers
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) is the Head of the Indian Audit and
Accounts Department (IA&AD) and derives his constitutional standing as the Auditor of the
Union and State Governments from Articles 149 to 151 of the Constitution. The duties,
powers and conditions of service of the Comptroller and Auditor General are laid down in the
CAG’s (Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service) Act, 1971.
Audit Duties
The statutory duties of the CAG include audit of:
• Receipts and expenditure of the Union and the State Governments accounted for
in the respective Consolidated Funds.
• Transactions relating to the Contingency Funds (created for use in emergency
circumstances) and the Public Accounts (used mainly for loans, deposits and
remittances).
• 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 organisations, Government
companies and Government corporations whose statutes provide for audit by the
CAG.
• Authorities and bodies substantially financed from the Consolidated Funds of the
Union and the States.
• Any body or authority even though not substantially financed from the
Consolidated Fund at the request of the President or the Governor.
• Accounts of bodies and authorities receiving loans and grants from the
Government for specific purposes.
There is special arrangement for the audit of Government companies i.e. where equity
participation is 51 per cent or more. The primary auditors of these companies are Chartered
Accountants, appointed by the Union Government on the advice of the CAG. The CAG gives
directions to the Chartered Accountants on the manner in which the audit should be
conducted. He is also empowered to comment on or supplement the reports of the primary
auditors. In addition, he has the right to conduct audit of accounts of such companies and
report the...