POLITY

CONSTITUTIONAL
BODIES

CAG,NCSC,NCST,NCBC
ETC

BY Dewashish Awasthi
 Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG)
CAG is the head of Indian Audit and Accounts Department.

Article 148 of the constitution provides for the office of Comptroller and Auditor General of India

Up to the year 1976 the functions of Accounting and Auditing were combined in the office of the CAG.

Since the year 1976 the CAG is relieved from the responsibility of the compilation and maintenance of
accounts of Central government.

Since 1976, the CAG is concerned with the auditing only.

NOTE: At the state level these two responsibilities are not separated.
The CAG is the guardian of Public purse (government money).

The CAG is the Watchdog of the Indian Public Finances.

There are 4 bulwarks (Security, Fortification) of the democratic system of government in India.

• Supreme Court (SC)

• Election Commission (EC)

• Union Public Service Commission (UPSC)

• Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)

APPOINTMENT:

The CAG is appointed by the President.

TENURE:

The CAG holds the office for a period of 6 years

Rajiv Mehrishi
OR

Up to the age of 65 years whichever is earlier.

RESIGNATION:

The CAG submits the resignation letter to the President.

REMOVAL:

This is mentioned in Articles 148 (1) and 124 (4).

The CAG is removed by the president of India only in accordance with the procedures mentioned in the
Constitution.

The CAG is removed by the President of India in the same manner and same grounds as a judge of Supreme
Court.

SALARY:

The Salary and other service conditions of CAG are decided by the Parliament.
His salary is charged from consolidated fund of India & is not subjected to vote of parliament

AFTER RETIREMENT:

The CAG after retirement is not eligible for further office either under the government of India or government of
a state.
FUNCTIONS OF CAG:

ARTICLE 149: This article of the Indian Constitution authorizes the parliament to prescribe the duties and
powers of the CAG.

The CAG audits (verifies) the accounts related to the expenditure incurred by the Central and State
governments.

The CAG compiles and maintains the accounts of the state governments.

The CAG also audits the accounts of the bodies and authorities financed by the Central and state revenues
like corporations and companies.

The CAG audits the accounts of any authority when requested by the President or Governor.
The CAG as an agent of the parliament conducts the audit of expenditure on behalf of the Parliament.

The CAG is responsible only to the Parliament.

The CAG acts as a friend, philosopher and guide of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Public accounts committee (PAC)

•A committee of not more than 22 members (LS → 15 & RS → 7)

Chairman of PAC is appointed by speaker of Lok sabha & is generally from opposition party

The accounts of Union and States shall be kept in such form as President may prescribe on advice
of CAG (Article 150).
SUBMISSION OF REPORT BY THE CAG:

CENTRAL GOVERNMENT REPORT:

The CAG submits the report relating to the accounts of the central government to the President of India.

The President places the report in the parliament.

STATE GOVERNMENT REPORT:

The CAG submits the report relating to the accounts of the state government to the Governor of the concerned
state.

The Governor places the report in the State Legislature.

 Status of the CAG of India:

•The CAG is actually performing role of Auditor General and not of Comptroller as he has no control over
withdrawal of Money from Consolidated Fund but only has power to audit after expenditure is done.

•Unlike India, in Britain CAG has powers of both Comptroller and Auditor General as executive can’t
withdraw money from public exchequer without approval of CAG. So, CAG of Britain is more powerful than
the CAG of India.

CAG has no power to audit secret service expenditure as declared by Govt or Parliament
 List of Comptroller and Auditors General of India
Comptroller and Auditor
No. Year tenure began Year tenure ended
General of India
1 V. Narahari Rao 1948 1954
2 A. K. Chanda 1954 1960
3 A. K. Roy 1960 1966
4 S. Ranganathan 1966 1972
5 A. Bakshi 1972 1978
6 Gian Prakash 1978 1984
7 T. N. Chaturvedi 1984 1990
8 C. G. Somiah 1990 1996
9 V. K. Shunglu 1996 2002
10 VN Kaul 2002 2008
11 Vinod Rai 2008 2013
12 Shashi Kant Sharma 2013 2017
13 Rajiv Mehrishi 2017 Incumbent
National Commission
for SC

• It is a constitutional body established

with a view to provide safeguards against
the exploitation of Scheduled Castes.
(Article 338)

• Aims to promote and protect their

social, educational, economic and cultural
interests, special provisions were made in
the Constitution for Schedule caste.

Ram Shankar Katheria

Composition:
•The Commission consists of a chairperson, a vice-chairperson and three other members.

•They are appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal.

•Their conditions of service and tenure of office are also determined by the president.

•The commission presents an annual report to the president , President places the report
before Parliament.

• President also forward any reports of the commission pertaining to state government to
the state governor.The governor places the report before the state legislature.
In order to ensure that the safeguards provided to SCs and STs are properly implemented, the Constitution on its
inception provided for appointment of a special office under Article 338 of the Constitution to investigate all matters
relating to the safeguards provided for Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes and report to the President about the
working of these safeguards.

In pursuance of this provision a Special Officer known as the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes & Scheduled
Tribes was appointed for the first time on 18th November, 1950.

•Later, through the 89th Amendment of the Constitution it was decided to have a separate National
Commission for Scheduled Castes & separate National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.

•This came into effect in 2004.

•Thus, the erstwhile National Commission for SCs & STs was bifurcated into two different Commissions.
 Functions of the commission:

To inquire into specific complaints with respect to the deprivation of rights and safeguards of the Scheduled Castes.

To investigate and monitor all matters relating to the safeguards provided for the Scheduled Castes

To participate and advise on the planning process of socio-economic development of the Scheduled Castes and to
evaluate the progress of their development under the Union and any State.
National Commission
for Scheduled Tribe

About NCST: (ARTICLE 338 A)

• NCST was established by amending Article

338 and inserting a new Article 338A in the
Constitution through the Constitution (89th
Amendment) Act, 2003.
• By this amendment, the
erstwhile National Commission for
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes was
replaced by two separate Commissions
namely- (i) the National Commission for
Scheduled Castes (NCSC), and (ii) the
National Commission for Scheduled Tribes
(NCST).

Nand Kumar Sai

Composition:
•The Commission consists of a chairperson, a vice-chairperson and three other members.

•They are appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal.

•Their conditions of service and tenure of office are also determined by the president.

•The commission presents an annual report to the president , President places the report
before Parliament.

• President also forward any reports of the commission pertaining to state government to
the state governor.The governor places the report before the state legislature.
 Powers:

NCST is empowered to investigate and monitor matters relating to safeguards provided for STs
under the Constitution or under other laws or under Govt. order.

The Commission is also authorized to inquire into specific complaints relating to rights and
safeguards of STs

To participate and advise in the Planning Process relating to socio-economic development of STs

To evaluate the progress of their development under the Union and States.
Power of NCSC and NCST
The NCSC and NCST have the power to regulate their own procedures. While investigating any matter they
have all the powers of a civil court
 Special officer for Linguistic Minorities
• Accordingly, the Seventh Constitutional Amendment Act of 1956 inserted a new Article 350-B in Part
XVII of the Constitution.

• This article contains the following provisions:

• There should be a Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities.

• He is to be appointed by the President of India.

• It would be the duty of the Special Officer to investigate all matters relating to the safeguards provided
for linguistic minorities under the Constitution.
 It must be noted here that the Constitution does not specify the qualifications, tenure, salaries and
allowances, service conditions and procedure for removal of the Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities.

He would report to the President upon those matters at such intervals as the President may direct.
The President should place all such reports before each House of Parliament and send to the
governments of the states concerned.

The Commissioner has his headquarters at Allahabad

(Uttar Pradesh) now it has been shifted to New Delhi with
effect from1 June 2015.
At the Central level, the Commissioner falls under the
Ministry of Minority Affairs.

Hence, he submits the annual reports or other reports to

the President through the Union Minority Affairs
Minister.
 National Commission for Backward Classes
What is the Background?
•Article 340 of the constitution talks about the need to identify socially and educationally backward classes and
understand the conditions of their backwardness and make recommendations to remove the difficulties they face.

Parliament enacted the National Commission for Backward Classes Act in 1993 and created NCBC under Ministry
of Social Justice & Empowerment. However, the power to hear complaints of the OBCs and protect their interests
remained with the National Commission for Scheduled Castes.

•123rd constitution amendment bill of 2017 & 102 Amendment Act was introduced in Parliament to empower NCBC and
safeguard the interests of backward sections more effectively.

•Parliament has also passed a separate bill to repeal the National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993 thus making
the latter act irrelevant.

India's National Commission for Backward Classes is a constitutional body

 What is the composition of NCBC?

Commission shall consist of one chairman and four Members:

a Chairperson who is or has been a judge of the Supreme Court or of a High Court;

a social scientist; Mr.Bhagwan Lal Sahni

two persons who have special knowledge in matters relating to backward classes; and

a Member-Secretary, who is or has been an officer of the Central Government in the rank of a
Secretary to the Government of India.

Their term is of Three years. (1 female should be the member)

What are the salient features of the 102nd Constitutional Amendment Act?

•It inserted two new articles – Article 338 B and 342 A.

•Article 338 B – empowers NCBC to examine complaints and welfare measures regarding socially and
educationally backward classes.

•Article 342 A – empowers President to specify/assign socially and educationally backward classes in different
states and union territories. He can do this with the advice of Governor of the respective state. But a
parliamentary law is required for amending (inclusion/removal) the list of backward classes.
 What are the powers and functions of new NCBC?

NCBC has the powers of a civil court.

Reports: It submits reports upon the working of safeguards to the President.

President lay those reports before the Parliament.

If such reports are related to the state, then a copy of the report shall be forwarded to the concerned state
government.

NCBC has the power to investigate, monitor and evaluate the working of safeguards provided under
the constitution for the socially and educationally backward classes (SEdBCs).