Due to retire soon, Rai says he's proud of CAG work
With less than a month left before he demits office, Vinod Rai, Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) said that he has no regrets about his tenure. "No question of regret. I am proud of the professional expertise that CAG has gained. Nobody has been able to fault the quality of our work." Sanjib Kr Baruah reports.
With less than a month left before he demits office, Vinod Rai, Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) said that he has no regrets about his tenure. "No question of regret. I am proud of the professional expertise that CAG has gained. Nobody has been able to fault the quality of our work."
"Audit reports used to take years, now we have been able to telescope that. Accountability can be established when the issues are still in public memory."
The CAG was speaking on the sidelines of the inaugural function of the building of the International Centre for Environment Audit and Sustainable Development (ICED) set up by the Supreme Audit Institution of India, headed by CAG. The building, inaugurated by vice-president Hamid Ansari, is expected to become the first government building in the country to get a five star rating for using green technology.
Rai's tenure has been controversial because of the storm his audit reports on big ticket schemes and government processes have generated from his reports on the telecom spectrum issue to coal block allocations to anomalies in MGNREGA.
In response to Rajasthan governor Margaret Alva's jocular assertion that the CAG reports have 'sometimes given headaches to the government', Rai said that in every private or public body, the auditor is always a headache. "Auditors always have relationship of an adversary with the body it audits, it is meant to be that way."
'Politics just not my cup of tea'
Jaipur: Vinod Rai, whose reports on the 2G spectrum and coal block allocation revealed large scale corruption in the government, said he has no plans of joining politics post-retirement.
"There is nothing wrong with becoming a politician, but it isn't my cup of tea. I have never been a part of politics in my long career, nor do I wish to join it in the future," he added.
On allegations that he had exaggerated the figures, Rai said his reports speak for him.