CONTENTS - Central Public Works Department

324 SECTION 55
and is under investigation by the Police Department, or is receiving attention of the Court of
Law, the Public Accounts Committee will await the result of the Police investigation or judgement
of the Court.
(7) It is the function of the Public Accounts Committee to ensure that the guilty, negligent, corrupt
and inefficient Government servant does not escape punishment. The Committee is not,
however, concerned with the individual but with the system. The individual is employed by the
Government, and the Public Accounts Committee cannot substitute itself for Government in
the matter of punishment. But the Committee is certainly entitled to know what action has
been taken on its recommendations.
55.3 Role of Comptroller and Auditor General
The role of the Comptroller and Auditor General or his representative before the Public Accounts
Committee and before the Executive is to explain the position fully, to give all aspects of the case, to point
out whether a failure, if any, has occurred. It is then for the Public Accounts Committee to have an
objective examination of the various points of view submitted by the Executive and by the Audit and come
to a conclusion. The Comptroller and Auditor General does not influence the Committee in coming to
those findings, and it is quite possible that he may even hold somewhat different views on a particular
matter. But the Comptroller and Auditor General has still a role to play in the matter of drafting the report of
the Public Accounts Committee, because he is to assist the Committee in seeing that all the relevant facts
have been brought out in the report.
55.4 Draft Audit Para
(1) The Draft Audit Paras intended for inclusion in the Audit Report of a particular year to be taken and
reviewed by the Public Accounts Committee in the end, are first taken up by the Head of Audit
Office demi-officially with the Secretary of the concerned Ministry for communicating Ministry’s
comments/acceptance, if any, of the facts stated in the draft paragraph. The copies of such paras
along with ‘key’ statements are simultaneously endorsed to the Head of Department concerned.
(2) The comments/acceptance of the Ministry are required to be intimated to Audit as expeditiously as
possible and invariably within a period not exceeding 6 weeks. If no reply is sent within this
prescribed period of 6 weeks, the paragraph as prepared by Audit is treated as final and included
in the Audit Report.
55.5 Action required to be taken in Zonal/Circle/Divisional offices
(1) Reports pertaining to existing or likely audit objections and draft audit paragraphs are required to
be shown to the Director General (Works)/Chief Engineer in ‘DAK’ as per departmental instructions.
(2) As soon as draft para is received in the Chief Engineer’s office, a copy of the same should be
endorsed to the Superintending Engineer/Executive Engineer concerned. The Superintending
Engineer/Executive Engineer should communicate acceptance or otherwise of the facts and
offer comments, if any, within a period not exceeding 2 weeks. The Superintending Engineer
should also take immediate steps to prepare a chronological history of the case and collect the
relevant records so as to make them instantly available to the higher authorities for perusal and
verification. Where such collection of records is not considered feasible, the Superintending
Engineer should keep a careful watch on the movement of such records. The custody of the
records and movements of these records are required to be arranged till the Draft Para is finally
dropped or discussed in the Public Accounts Committee. In the event of the transfer of the
Superintending Engineer/Executive Engineer, the list of such paras, with their chronological
history and records connected therewith, should be passed on to the successor, and a mention
of this should be made in the handing over notes.
(3) To ensure expeditious disposal of the draft audit paras within the prescribed period of 6 weeks, a
suitable register should be maintained in the Chief Engineer’s/Circle and Divisional offices.