Regulation 21 — REGULATIONS_AUDIT

21. Failure to provide data, information and documents (1) Cases of failure to provide data, information and documents shall be immediately reported by the audit office to the controlling officer and suitably to the concerned Government/ Ministry, including Secretary of the Department in case of Government of India or Chief Secretary of the State for appropriate action. These authorities shall ensure that requisite access to data, information and documents is provided to Audit within the prescribed time frame and inform the concerned Audit office accordingly.

(2) Cases of failure to provide data, information and documents to audit is a violation of the statutory obligation of the officer-in-charge at the auditable entity. The implications of such a situation would be as follows:

(i) The audit product/report shall report withholding/non-production of data, thus informing Parliament/State Legislature of the lack of transparency in public expenditure/revenue, and Comptroller and Auditor General’s inability to assure the Parliament/State Legislature of the correctness, or even appropriateness of the expenditure or revenue related action/decision;

(ii) If data is withheld or not made available in a manner that, in Comptroller and Auditor General’s opinion, amounts to audit being thwarted from carrying out its constitutional and statutory obligations, a stand alone or a single paragraph report should be submitted to the Parliament/State Legislature bringing out clearly the facts of the issue and the implications; and

(iii) Contingencies as at

(ii) above may lead to non-certification or qualification (including disclaimers) as part of Comptroller and Auditor General’s audit opinion/conclusions.