President Droupadi Murmu has appointed K Sanjay Murthy, an IAS officer of the 1989 batch, as the new Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, according to a government notification on Monday.
Murthy, who belongs to the Andhra Pradesh cadre, is presently the Secretary of the Department of Higher Education in the Union Ministry of Education.
According to a notification issued by the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) under the Union Finance Ministry, Murthy will be CAG”with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office.
“By virtue of the power vested in her by clause (1) of article 148 of the Constitution of India, the President has been pleased to appoint K Sanjay Murthy to be the Comptroller and Auditor General of India with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office,” read the notification.
Murthy is set to replace incumbent CAG, Girish Chandra Murmu, who assumed office on August 8, 2020. Prior to being the CAG, Murmu was the first Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India is empowered to audit all union and state government departments, including railways, defence, India post, and telecommunications. Moreover, the CAG can audit over 1500 public commercial enterprises, over 400 non-commercial autonomous bodies, various bodies and authorities “substantially financed” from union government bodies and local bodies, Panchayati raj institutions.
The CAG can therefore, inspect any office or organisation subject to his audit, examine all transactions within them and question the executive and call for any records, papers, documents from entities.
The CAG is empowered through Article 149 of the Constitution, called the “CAG’s Duties, Powers and Conditions Act in 1971.” The act describes the office’s mandate and puts almost every spending, revenue collecting or aid/grant receiving unit of the Government (the Centre and the States) under his audit domain.
The CAG is further assisted by the Indian Audit and Accounts Department (IA&AD) to perform his constitutional role. The office has around 600 top and middle managerial level officers. Additionally, the office has a “subordinate cadre” of around 47000.
(ANI)