Multi-member CAG: Narayanasamy says he was misquoted

The Press Trust of India on Sunday in its report quoted Minister of State in the Prime Minister's office V Narayanasamy as having said that converting the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) into a multi-member body was under consideration of the government. The minister, however, said that he was misquoted. In the course of an interview with PTI, Narayanasamy was asked about the recommendation made by former CAG V K Shunglu that the CAG should be made multi-member body.

He replied, "it (Shunglu panel's suggestion to make CAG a multi-member body) is under active consideration. The government is actively considering it."

The minister subsequently appeared to backtrack and told television channels that he was "misquoted".

He told the channels that he had told the PTI reporter that six reports of the Shunglu Committee were under government consideration.

"He (PTI reporter) did not specifically ask me about CAG. I did not specifically reply to him about CAG which he misquoted me saying that the Government is considering making CAG a multi-member body. I did not say that," the minister claimed on Sunday.

Following are the excerpts of the PTI interview which was tape-recorded:

Question: Other than submitting six reports, they have written a letter to the Prime Minister in which he (Shunglu) has talked about changes in CAG that it should to be made multi-member body instead of being one (member)...The recommendation is somewhere in the PMO.

Answer: No, no. It is under active consideration.

Q: Do you mean to say that government is considering...

A: (The minister interjected to say) Actively considering.

Q: So the CAG would be made a three-member body?

A: When a decision is taken, I will let you know. Both the things (CAG and detaching Chief Technical Examination wing of CVC) are under the consideration of the government. All the reports and separate recommendations that have been given for the statutory modifications of the bodies of the government of India is under the consideration of the government.

The high level committee headed by Shunglu, which was set up to look into the alleged irregularities in the 2010 Commonwealth Games projects, had submitted six reports on the projects along with a separate letter to the PMO in which it recommended making CAG a three-member body.

The Congress dirty tricks department has become active again.

This is just a probing interview given by Narayanswamy to see the people' reaction.

He first gives an interview and then says he was misquoted like all politicians.

This is not the first time they have clipped the wings of a department which was creating problems for it.

We used to have only one Chief election Commissioner of India. T N Seshan was the 10th Chief Election Commissioner of India from December 12, 1990 to December 11, 1996.

When he became difficult as he wanted to end the malpractices during elections two additional Commissioners were appointed to the commission for the first time on 16 October 1989 but they had a very short tenure till 1 January 1990. Later, on 1 October 1993, two additional Election Commissioners were appointed.

Since all the political parties were affected, the connived to have the bill passed in Parliament.

Unfortunately for them, the new Election Commissioners have continued the good work of T N Sshan. Poor Karunadidhi has suffered most, next only to Lalu Yadav.

Now they are doing the same with the office of the CAG.

I hope the opposition sees through the Congress game and defeat their nefarious aims.