Informist, Monday, Mar. 17, 2025

NEW DELHI - The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the government against the current appointment process of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India and tagged the petition with a similar pending case. The petitioner, Centre for Public Interest Litigation, said the current practice of appointment of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India solely by the executive and the prime minister be declared violative of the Constitution.

The petitioner has sought that the Comptroller and Auditor General of India be appointed by the President in consultation with an independent and neutral selection committee, which shall be composed of the prime minister, the leader of the opposition and the Chief Justice of India, and in a transparent manner.

"The appointment of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India solely by the executive and the prime minister of India undermines the independence of the office of the CAG, suffers from grave conflict of interest and thereby is detrimental to good governance and democracy in India," said the petitioner. It is also manifestly arbitrary, detrimental to institutional integrity and violates several basic features of the Constitution, the petitioner, a non-government organisation, added.

The non-government organisation said that by the very nature of the job, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India is supposed to promote transparency. If the Comptroller and Auditor General of India is to discharge its duties dispassionately without fear or favour, then the appointment process cannot be opaque or arbitrary, the petitioner added. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India acts as a watchdog over government accounts and expenditure and plays an important role in ensuring transparency and financial accountability in the functioning of the central and state governments as well as Panchayati Raj institutions, said the petitioner.

"It is for this reason that the appointment process of the CAG should be fair, transparent and non-arbitrary. Unfortunately, despite the Constitution's best intent to keep the office of the CAG independent from any executive interference, it is increasingly witnessing political interference, thereby compromising the very purpose for which the high office was established," the petition stated.

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India derives its authority and functions mainly from the provisions of Articles 149 to 151 of the Constitution of India. Article 149 of the Constitution provides that the Comptroller and Auditor General shall exercise such powers and perform such duties in relation to the accounts of the Union and of the states and of any other authority or body as may be prescribed by or under any law made by Parliament. The Constitution states that the Comptroller and Auditor General of India shall be appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal and shall only be removed from office in like manner and on the like grounds as a judge of the Supreme Court. End

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Vandana Hingorani

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