New CAG Shashi Kant Sharma takes over, Prashant Bhushan has a problem

NEW DELHI: The government on Tuesday formally appointed Defence Secretary and veteran bureaucrat Shashi Kant Sharma as the next Comptroller & Auditor General of India, but the appointment came under fire from activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan, who slammed if for being “opaque” and threatened a legal challenge.

A government statement said that Sharma had been appointed as the top national auditor by the President and would take charge from Thursday, a day after the present incumbent Vinod Rai demits office.

A Bihar cadre IAS officer of the 1976 batch, Sharma has spent the better part of the past decade in the defence ministry, where he held various roles, including as secretary in the department of financial services. But the appointment raised the hackles of Bhushan, who claimed the appointment was flawed because no formal selection committee exists for this purpose.

“The finance minister makes recommendations and the government forwards them to the President of India… This shows that the selection of CAG is completely in the government’s hands...,” he said. “The whole process of selection...took place in complete secrecy. Yet, none of the political parties raised this issue. Why?” He asked. He also raised the issue of “institutional integrity”, saying Sharma in his new role would be auditing defence procurements made during the time he was in the defence ministry.

Sharma declined to comment, but All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen MP Assaduddin Owaisi, a long-time member of the parliamentary standing committee on defence, defended Sharma’s record. “If you look at Antony’s record, he has blacklisted the maximum number of firms for even apprehension of graft. It would be a stand taken in tandem with the defence secretary...”