Outgoing Comptroller and Auditor General(CAG) Vinod Rai on Tuesday said that all PPP Projects, Panchayati Raj Institutions and government-funded societies should be brought within the ambit of the CAG. Rai’s tenure had seen the CAG hitting the headlines through findings on 2G spectrum allocation, Commonwealth Games, 2010 and Air India.
“All PPP, PRIs and Urban Local Bodies, societies, etc should be brought under the CAG,” he said.
Rai’s remarks are significant in view of the fact that PPPs have become the preferred mode for executing infrastructure projects in the country today. Projects worth thousands of crores ranging from highways, ports and airports to power distribution are built via the PPP mode.
However, the PPPs are outside the purview of the CAG audit and special audits are done only when the government makes a request.
In a presentation before the Planning Commission a few years ago, it was revealed that 60 per cent of the government expenditure does not come under the purview of the CAG.
Rai also defended the concept of presumptive loss in arriving at under-recoveries of the government in the 2G spectrum allocation and other matters. Rai also said that the concept of presumptive loss is used worldwide. “Presumptive is not a word which is of our creation. It is used in international auditing parlance,” he said.