Para 33 — CSMOP
Original Rule Text
33. References to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India - References to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for his views or advice shall be made only by or through the Ministry of Finance. In matters of day-to-day administration, Ministries/departments may, however, at their discretion, correspond directly with the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
What This Means
Para 33 deals with correspondence with the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India — the constitutional authority responsible for auditing the accounts of the Union and State governments. Like the rule for the Attorney General (Para 31), references to the CAG on significant matters have a prescribed channel: they must be made by or through the Ministry of Finance. A ministry cannot independently seek the CAG's views or advice on major matters.
However, unlike the very strict rule for the AG, Para 33 has an exception: for day-to-day administration matters, individual ministries may, at their discretion, correspond directly with the CAG. This is a practical recognition that the CAG's office interacts routinely with ministries during audit — queries, responses to audit observations, replies to inspection reports, and similar routine audit-related correspondence. Requiring Finance Ministry involvement for every such communication would create enormous delays.
For Section Officers handling audit matters, the practical rule is: if you are responding to an audit query or sending a reply to a draft audit paragraph, you can write directly to the CAG's office. If your ministry wants to seek the CAG's views on a significant policy or accounting matter, route it through Finance.
This explanation was generated with AI assistance for educational purposes. Always refer to the official gazette notification for authoritative text.
Key Points
- 1References seeking the CAG's views or advice on significant matters must go through or be made by the Ministry of Finance.
- 2For day-to-day administration (routine audit correspondence), ministries can write directly to the CAG.
- 3The exception for day-to-day matters gives ministries flexibility for routine audit interactions.
- 4The distinction is between seeking the CAG's advice/views (needs Finance Ministry) and routine administrative correspondence (direct allowed).
- 5This rule respects the CAG's constitutional independence while enabling practical audit administration.
Practical Example
The Ministry of Agriculture handles two types of CAG-related communication. First, routine: the CAG audit team sends a query about the utilisation of a grant. The Ministry's Finance Branch replies directly to the CAG's office with the required information and supporting documents — no Finance Ministry involvement needed. Second, significant: the Ministry wants the CAG's view on whether a new accounting classification method it proposes is auditable. This is a substantive question about audit principles. The Ministry routes this query through the Ministry of Finance, which then takes it to the CAG.
This explanation was generated with AI assistance for educational purposes. Always refer to the official gazette notification for authoritative text.
Frequently Asked Questions
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This explanation was generated with AI assistance for educational purposes. Always refer to the official gazette notification for authoritative text.