Rajiv Mehrishi, 1978 batch Rajasthan Cadre IAS officer, has worn many a cap during his nearly four-decade journey as a bureaucrat, but the toughest, he says, was the last two years of his professional life as Union Home Secretary.

This was unlike the common perception that it is the Finance Secretary who leads the toughest life — no one spares him, neither the government nor the people. And who would know better than Mehrishi himself, who held the post of Finance Secretary before he moved to Home.

Mehrishi, who is the current Comptroller and Auditor General of India (C&AG) and Chairman of United Nations Board of Auditors, notices the surprise before responding: “The post of a Home Secretary is the toughest for any bureaucrat. It is not a six days a week job, and neither is it a 9-5 job. It requires 24x7 availability, and dealing with issues which have direct links to human life — whether it be a law and order problem, militancy or terrorism, or man-made/natural disasters.”

Basically “sleepless nights”, Mehrishi says, with the usual ‘zest for life’ approach. He was appointed Home Secretary on August 31, 2015, and served a two-year tenure.

Mehrishi, who holds a degree in Business Administration from Strathclyde Business School, Glasgow, and a masters in history from St. Stephen College, assumed office as the C&AG on September 25, 2017.

He is well-versed with audits and investigations, particularly in the corporate world — he was Joint Secretary in the erstwhile Department of Company Affairs (now Ministry for Corporate Affairs).

He was associated with some key activities: enactment of the Competition Act; setting up of SFIO; the first draft of the Companies Act; and amendments, including the first steps towards improving disciplinary systems, in the Acts pertaining to the ICAI, ICWAI and ICSI.

But the role of C&AG is not easy one would presume, as it is usually controversy-prone— allegations of political interferences, phone calls, and non-cooperation by some of the key ministries, particularly the Finance Ministry. Mehrishi firmly puts to rest any such talks.

He acknowledges that there are some challenges, particularly in dealing with the time lag in audit reports — these are generally dated. Mehrishi believes that the use of technology can cut the time taken to finish the audits.

Ideally, the C&AG should be the secondary auditor, but in many cases it is the prime auditor. And, there is a need to improve internal audit, he says.

“Physical auditing process takes time. There should be more digital transactions for easier and better auditing of books,” he says, adding that “the C&AG has been auditing the books of the United Nations that are maintained by UMOJA. Everything is digitalised there and, therefore, it becomes very easy to verify transactions in any corner of the world.”

In search of a new tool

The C&AG is looking at a tool to audit every transaction as it happens under the GST and Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Mehrishi is also clear that while auditing the ministries or State government accounts, the C&AG cannot ask questions on policies.

For example, while auditing the Ministry of Finance, the C&AG can comment on impact of bank recapitalisation on government finances, but not the wisdom of the policy itself. Non-performing assets of banks are outside the purview of the government auditor, as the C&AG does not audit banks, not even public sector banks.

While he works on creating a more transparent auditing mechanism, Mehrishi is clear that there cannot be a voluntary audit of private companies by the C&AG unless ordered by a court or on basis of entrustment, or where government money is involved as in public-private-partnerships. He prefers to go by the rule book.

Asked if the C&AG will take up audits of government policies, he said policies cannot be audited but the programmes being implemented, yes. There have been specific cases like the Commonwealth Games 2010 where C&AG audit has been undertaken.

Besides narrowing the time lag which is currently prevailing in C&AG audit reports, Mehrishi would also like to propose a concept of ‘outcome audits’ — that assess whether a scheme or a programme has been successful in achieving the desired goals.

For example, whether the school education programme has been successful in actually teaching the kids in terms of learning outcomes, whether Ujjwala has been able to reduce dependence on firewood cooking, or whether the toilets constructed under Swachh Bharat have actually resulted in significantly reducing, if not eliminating, open defecation.

“We have moved from compliance audit to performance audit and the next step should be outcome audit,” says Mehrishi.

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