Parliamentary panel calls CAG officials over delay in tabling audited accounts of departments in Lok Sabha

A parliamentary panel has called CAG officials to brief it on the "unreasonable" delay in tabling annual reports and audited accounts of various autonomous bodies in Lok Sabha, sources said on Sunday.

The Parliamentary Committee on Papers Laid on the Table of Lok Sabha, chaired by BSP Ritesh Pandey, is convening a briefing session with the representatives of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on Monday, according to a notice issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.

This is perhaps the first time that a House panel other than the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will have a formal discussion with CAG officials, sources in the panel said.


The committee had called representatives of various ministries and departments that have not laid their papers on time. During examination, many organisations have submitted that audit by the CAG sometimes take longer than the stipulated time, which is leading to the delay, sources in the panel said.

The committee found it only prudent to have a formal interaction with the office of the CAG so as to get acquainted with the reasons for delays and take advice as to what should be the way out so that the statutory requirements of laying the papers within the stipulated time can be fulfilled, they said.

This parliamentary committee is constituted every year to examine the reasons for unreasonable delays in the laying of annual reports and audited accounts of various autonomous bodies, public undertakings, commissions, organisations and ministries/departments and others under the administrative control of the Union government.

These departments have to lay their audited accounts and reports on the table of the House within nine months of the closure of the financial year, that is by December 31 every year.