Kerala CM questions CAG audit methods and legislative powers
Chief Minister V D Satheesan stated that legislatures are not constitutionally competent to dismiss reports submitted by the Comptroller and Auditor General.
Kerala Chief Minister V D Satheesan on Tuesday questioned the methodology used by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to calculate losses and stated that legislatures cannot exclude CAG reports from Public Accounts Committee (PAC) scrutiny. Speaking at the inauguration of the Conference of Chairpersons of Public Accounts Committees in Thiruvananthapuram, Satheesan called the exclusion of such reports an unhealthy parliamentary practice, according to the Hindustan Times.
The Chief Minister noted that the Kerala Legislative Assembly passed a resolution in January 2021 to exclude audit findings on the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board from PAC scrutiny. He said the then Assembly disrupted the normal parliamentary process and argued that a government with a majority is not constitutionally competent to dismiss a CAG report based on a floor majority.
Satheesan also criticised the CAG's calculation methods, citing the 2G spectrum allocation and the Vizhinjam port. He said the estimated Rs 1.76 lakh crore loss in the 2G spectrum allocation was a hypothetical, presumptive projection rather than an actual realised loss, as it used later benchmarks instead of 2008 market conditions.
Regarding the Vizhinjam port, the Chief Minister said the CAG mischaracterised the project by evaluating it as a public sector undertaking instead of a public-private partnership. He stated the methodology failed to adjust for the fact that large infrastructure setups require state-backed viability gap funding and are not always profitable on a stand-alone basis during early life cycles.
The Chief Minister called for discussions on how PACs should treat audit findings that fall outside the constitutional audit purview due to misconceptions in audit approaches. He also suggested a special drive to clear a large number of files pending before PACs, some of which have been pending for over 20 years.