It is reliably learnt that the CAG, G.C. Murmu, is ‘not signing’ on any fresh reports. After The Wire published its reports, the CAG, in a press release, called them ‘erroneous and baseless’.

In the first week of October, there were “verbal orders” passed in the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)’s office in New Delhi to “stop all field work”. This field work is vital for the auditing of ministries and departments – that eventually results in reports put out by the country’s official audit body and helps in establishing accountability and checks on government spending and finances.
It is also learnt that officers in the office have said they will pass down these instructions – to “stop all field work” – to those in the field (comprising between 30%-40% of the staff) only once they get written orders. Following purely verbal orders will leave them vulnerable to any inquiry or legal action, should this matter be opened by any future government or even the present one at a later date.
In addition, CAG Girish Chandra Murmu is said to be “not signing any report” that necessarily needs to bear his signature, along with that of the officer-in-charge, invariably an officer of the Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IA&AS).
Without the signatures of the CAG, the reports cannot be placed in parliament.
Murmu was appointed in 2020 as the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. He is a 1985-batch Gujarat cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, believed to be a trusted aide of both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah. Prior to his appointment as the CAG, Murmu was the first Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir after the reading down of Article 370 and the downgrading of its status to a Union Territory.
The CAG is the country’s topmost financial watchdog, constitutionally mandated to audit the finances of the Union and state governments
The verbal orders which have created considerable turmoil in the CAG’s office come close on the heels of the transfers of three officers The Wire reported on. These officers were in charge of audit reports that exposed corruption in the Dwarka Expressway project and Ayushman Bharat – both launched by Modi with great fanfare. A third officer who had initiated the audit of the Ayushman Bharat report was also transferred.
Following The Wire‘s report, opposition parties including the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Trinamool Congress (TMC) have accused the BJP government of “corruption” and intimidation.
The Wire has reached out to the CAG’s office for a comment. This report will be updated when a response is received.
The CAG’s office during the first tenure of the Modi government raised eyebrows for what appeared to be a markedly low level of activity. An RTI application filed by The New Indian Express showed in 2021, that CAG reports relating to Union ministries and departments came down from 55 in 2015 to merely 14 in 2020 – a fall of nearly 75%.
CAG reports, once treated as a matter of governance-related tedium, gained political currency first in NDA-1 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the prime minister. The then defence minister, George Fernandes, had to resign after ‘Coffin-gate’, which involved a CAG report on high expenses incurred in the purchase of caskets for Indian soldiers killed in action. Later, as Vinod Rai released audit reports on the Commonwealth Games 2010, 2G spectrum and coal policies, it led to a severe erosion of public faith in the UPA.
The last monsoon session of Parliament saw 12 CAG reports being placed on the floor of the house, severely castigating some Union government ministries and departments, and pointing to irregularities in Modi’s flagship schemes, especially those in health and building roads.
The CAG report on highway projects under the Implementation of the Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase-I (BPP-1) found massive overrun costs in the Dwarka Expressway project and said that the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI)’s decision to opt for an elevated carriageway in the Haryana portion pushed up costs to Rs 250.77 crore per kilometre as against the cost of Rs 18.20 crore per kilometre approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.
The Performance Audit of Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana revealed corruption in insurance settlement claims. The report, among other findings, said that lakhs of claims continued to be made against some who had been shown as ‘deceased’ in the database.

Update at 5 pm on October 13
The CAG, having chosen to not respond to queries which The Wire sent them prior to publication of both the reports carried on October 11 and 13, has later on October 13 issued a press release saying the news story on transfers of certain key CAG officers shortly after the publication and presentation of 12 reports highlighting irregularities in the functioning of Union government ministries and departments, and the news story of verbal orders ‘to stop all field work’, are “erroneous and baseless.”
As per CAG, “matters of transfer and postings are a matter of administrative convenience and to read ulterior motives into these is highly presumptuous.” They add that “audit reports are prepared by an extensive team over a prolonged period, comprising officers entrusted with field work, central processing and finalisation at the highest level. The referred audit reports 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 news report did not attribute ‘malfeasance’ to routine transfers. It finds the reporting of three transfers that our report focussed on October 11 to be in public interest. We stand by our information that these officers were key to the Bharatmala report and to Ayushman Bharat, where irregularities were unearthed.
CAG says that “the contentions that the CAG is not signing (approving) any fresh reports and verbal orders have been issued to stop all field work, is categorically and unequivocally rejected.”
It goes on to say, “the public must stand informed that the number of audit reports approved by the CAG, Mr. GC Murmu, has been on a sharp ascent over the past 3 years, attaining an all time high of 173 audit reports in 2022-23 (Union and States). Of these, 29 Union audit reports and 78 state audit reports were tabled in Parliament and State Legislatures in 2022-23; and the total number of reports tabled including those approved prior to 2022-23 was 183. In the current financial year to date, a total of 43 Audit Reports have been approved by the CAG.”
These facts of reports done are not under dispute. Our story published on October 13 speaks of prospective reports, audits yet to be undertaken, produced and presented by CAG.
CAG says it “is committed to fulfilling its mandate of ensuring transparency and accountability in governance; and is confident of surpassing previous years’ output.” This, it says “would not be possible if there was even the slightest truth in the alleged contention that field audit has been suspended. Rest assured, field audit continues full force, suitably buttressed by data analytics and digital audit.”
The Wire looks forward to and is waiting to report on future audits by CAG.

Courtesy: The Wire