CAG rejects wrongdoing in transfer of three officers

New Delhi: Dismissing the allegations of wrongdoing, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has on Friday denied any malfeasance in the transfer of auditors connected with reports that unearthed alleged irregularities in the Centre’s flagship Bharatmala and Ayushman Bharat schemes by stating that transfers and postings are a matter of administrative convenience, and attaching ulterior motives to these is highly presumptuous.

In a statement, the CAG said that audit reports went through multiple hands before being approved by the highest authority for tabling in Parliament.

‘To set the record straight, matters of transfer and postings are a matter of administrative convenience and to read ulterior motives into these is highly presumptuous,’ the CAG said in a statement.

The statement came after the Congress criticised the government for reportedly transferring auditors Atoorva Sinha and Dattaprasad Surkayant Shirsa who were in charge of audit reports scrutinising the Dwarka Expressway project, and Ashok Sinha, who had initiated the audit of the Ayushman Bharat scheme.

In its statement, CAG said that audit reports are prepared by an extensive team over a prolonged period, comprising officers entrusted with fieldwork, central processing and finalisation at the highest level.

The audit reports, it said, also went through multiple hands before due approval, and subsequent tabling in the Legislature, and hence cannot be attributed to any one officer.

‘Furthermore, both referred reports have been presented to the President after approval at the highest level, and laid before the Parliament, and are in the public domain. To attribute any malfeasance to these routine transfers driven by administrative requirements is completely incorrect,’ the apex auditor said.