CM Satheesan questions Assembly's power to reject CAG reports, flags KIIFB episode

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan on Tuesday questioned the constitutional authority of a legislature to reject or exclude findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) from scrutiny by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), saying a government cannot use its majority in the House to bypass established accountability mechanisms.

Addressing the All India Conference of PAC Chairpersons, inaugurated by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla here, Satheesan cited the Kerala Assembly's January 2021 resolution that excluded CAG findings on the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) from PAC scrutiny.

He said the move had disrupted the normal parliamentary process and raised questions about the constitutional powers of a legislature.

"No legislature is competent to dismiss a report submitted by the CAG. Having a majority in the House does not give a legislature the constitutional competence to reject a CAG report," he said.

Such practices, he warned, would defeat the very purpose of parliamentary institutions and the principles of accountability.

The Chief Minister also called for a serious discussion on the CAG's audit methodology, citing the 2G spectrum allocation and Vizhinjam port projects.

On the 2G spectrum audit, he questioned the methodology behind the estimated loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore, arguing that it was a hypothetical projection based on later auction benchmarks and not an actual loss suffered by the government.

On Vizhinjam, he said the CAG had assessed a public-private partnership project using the approach applicable to a conventional public sector undertaking.

He argued that the commercial structure, risk-sharing arrangements, and viability gap funding involved in large infrastructure projects required a different audit approach.

Satheesan said PACs should discuss how to deal with audit findings that, in his view, fall outside the constitutional scope of the CAG's mandate because of shortcomings in the audit methodology.

He also called for a special drive to clear the huge backlog of cases before PACs across the country.

Some files, he pointed out, had remained pending for more than 20 years.

"What is the relevance of a committee if files remain pending for two decades? The officials concerned may have retired or may no longer be alive by the time a decision is taken," he said.

Satheesan, who had earlier chaired Kerala's PAC, said he had cleared all pending files during his tenure and stressed the need for other legislatures to follow a similar approach.

Inaugurating the two-day conference, Lok Sabha Speaker Birla called for a more outcome-oriented approach to PAC functioning.

He said committees should go beyond examining government expenditure and assess whether public money was delivering tangible benefits to people, particularly the disadvantaged.

He also stressed the need to use data analytics and artificial intelligence to improve financial scrutiny and detect irregularities.

Birla underlined that PACs should function above political considerations and highlighted the importance of having Opposition members as their chairpersons.

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