Kerala Assembly passes resolution against CAG report

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Assembly on Friday passed a resolution against the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report despite strong opposition from the Congress-led UDF over removing parts of the report tabled in the House containing adverse references on the KIIFB.

The UDF and the lone BJP MLA opposed the resolution saying it was against constitutional values.

Moving the resolution, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said certain changes in the final report was made by the CAG without hearing the departments concerned and it may affect the "checks and balances" between the executive and the legislature. The resolution was passed with a voice vote andSpeaker P Sreeramakrishnan said the CAG report will be sent for the consideration of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) after removing concerned pages containing the remarks on Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB).

However, the final ruling in this regard is pending as Congress legislator V D Satheeshan, who is also the chairman of the PAC, opposed the move saying the House cannot change the report which was signed by the Governor. "How can a state legislature remove certain parts from a report signed by the Governor? If it becomes a precedent, other states will also follow suit.This currently creates a constitutional crisis," Satheeshan said.

The resolution sought to "reject the remarks" regarding KIIFB from Page 41 to 43 of the state financial audit report of the CAG.

"The report was prepared without consulting the government. The CAG findings which claimed that the KIIFB has taken off-budget loans and that the burden on the government was not contingent liability are baseless," Vijayan said.