New Delhi: The government will "soon" decide on the new CAG and would take a call whether to make it a three-member body at an "appropriate time", Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office V Narayanasamy has said. "It (name of CAG) will happen soon.
The Finance Minister will recommend a candidate to the Prime Minister, who will approve it and send it to the President for announcing," he told 'The Week' magazine in an interview. The present Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai will demit office in May this year on attaining 65 years of age.
Narayanasamy said CAG as a "single-member body" was working well. "The Election Commission, which was a single-member body, was made into a multi-member body. It is something which the government has to decide. "In the present system, the CAG is a single-member body and has been working well. In spite of the CAG transgressing into areas which are not under its mandate, the government has given it a free hand," the Minister said.
When asked whether it was unlikely that the CAG could be made a multi-member body, he said "the government will take a call at an appropriate time". Narayanasamy said CAG was transgressing into areas beyond its mandate which was an "unfortunate situation". "The CAG cannot comment on the policy of the government.
Of late, the CAG has been transgressing into policy making, which is the domain of the government. This is an unfortunate situation," he said, adding that the CAG's job is to look into the expenditure incurred by various departments and see if there are discrepancies or corruption.
Narayanasamy said there was a time-tested process for selecting the CAG. "There has been no problem with it so far and people who have been appointed through this process have functioned independently. There have been no complaints of government interference," he said.