CAG takes a COVID-19 hit, 40-50 audit reports will miss deadlines, will be delayed

Amid growing concerns over the spread of the novel coronavirus, a top Comptroller and Auditor General source told ETV Bharat that it has penetrated the corridors of the CAG office too. He further said that out of the 150 audit reports that the national auditor brings out every year, about 40-50 reports will be delayed this year, writes senior journalist Sanjib Kr Baruah.

New Delhi: The COVID-19 viral pandemic has penetrated the corridors of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) office too. Of the 150 audit reports that the national auditor brings out every year, about 40-50 reports will be delayed this year—an almost unprecedented event!

“COVID-19 pandemic has substantially affected our work. In a year, the CAG brings out at least 150 audit reports. But with most offices closed due to the nationwide lockdown in the government, ministries, departments, and particularly due to lockdowns in the states, we have not been able to get many official records in time. This is because most official records and data is maintained in physical form and has to be entered manually. As a result, about 40-50 reports will not be able to meet the deadlines and will be much delayed. The delayed audits are mainly in case of performance audits and not financial audits,” a top CAG source told ETV Bharat.

“But on the other hand, despite the pandemic, work has not suffered delays in case of the 11 audit reports that the CAG prepares for the United Nations. That is because of the fact that all the UN official records are available in electronic form. Nor do our auditors have to leave India to conduct the audit. We send queries on mail and get the response by mail,” the source added.

India’s CAG is currently on the UN Board of Auditors (2014-2020) and also the external auditor of WHO (2020-2023) and Food and Agriculture Organisation (2020-2025).

Last year, the CAG was also elected the chairperson of the panel of external auditors of the UN for 2020.

In all about 30 audit reports of the UN including the specialized agencies like WHO, FAO, WEP, WIPO, etc and also the International Atomic Energy Agency have to be prepared.

Keeping accountability and transparency in mind, the CAG has already ‘advised’ the President of India about two months ago to enact the ‘Data Accountability and Transparency Act’ (DATA) so as to make it mandatory for all government entities to maintain official records and documents in electronic form. In this, the national auditor has offered to help by setting data standards.

“The aim is to make the CAG and all offices under it totally ‘paperless’ by 2022,” the source added.

The CAG has planned a slew of audits for 2020-21 including a slew of public welfare schemes like the ‘Ayushman Bharat’ (Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana), ‘PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana’, ‘Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana’, besides looking at schemes and programmes relating to the implementation of the urban local bodies under the 74th constitutional amendment, health systems, Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), waste management, and audit of illegal mining.