New Delhi, Feb 11 (IANS) The Supreme Court Wednesday rejected a plea seeking to quash appointment of Shashi Kant Sharma as the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on the grounds of conflict of interest.
The plea stated that as country's auditor Sharma would be judging a number of defence deals that were concluded or cleared when he was defence secretary.
The apex court bench of Chief Justice H.L. Dattu, Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Arun Mishra rejected the plea, as Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi cited the constitutional provisions prescribing the CAG's appointment by the President on the aid and advice of the council of ministers.
Rohatgi told the court that under the constitution the CAG's appointment rested with the government and the constitution has left it to the government to aid and advise the President on the appointment of the CAG and the court could not interfere in it.
The court observed that the attorney general was skirting the issue.
It told Rohatgi that counsel Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioners, was contending that the way court had interpreted the provisions of the constitution to put in place the collegium system for the appointment of judges and free it from executive interference, similarly, court should interpret constitutional provisions for the appointment of CAG to make it more transparent and non-arbitrary.
At this, the attorney general told the court that the interpretation of the constitution in the second judges case in 1992 creating the collegium system for the judges' appointment was incorrect.
"One day, we will have to debate whether it (creating collegium system) was right or wrong. I submit it was wrong. That was wrong assessment of the constitution. There was no audit (of the performance of the judges)," Rohatgi told the court.
"How is it that judges appointed after 1990s (by collegium system) were better and those appointed from 1952 onwards were not up to the mark?"
Addressing the court, Bhushan told the court there has to be transparent procedure for CAG's appointment.
"This is an important position. Why should not be there some system and procedure for the appointment of CAG. People should know that such a position is going to be filled up so that they can make recommendations."
"If you demonstrate that this person (to be appointed as CAG) suffers from disability before the court of law , then this court can certainly say that the appointing authority should have taken these disabilities into account at the time of making appointment," court told Bhushan.
Former Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami, former Naval chiefs Admiral (retd.) R.H. Tahiliani and Admiral (retd.) L. Ramdas, three former secretaries to the government Kamal Kantt Jaswal, Ramaswamy R. Iyer and E.A.S. Sarma, a former IAS officer and Army officer M.G. Devasahayam, former deputy CAG B.P. Mathur and former Indian Audit and Accounts Service officer S. Krishnan have moved the PIL seeking a writ of quo warrant to set aside the appointment of Sharma as CAG.
Achievement: The government exceeded the monetization target of the last financial year, and succeeded in raising one lakh crore rupees
NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Amitabh Kant while addressing an event on Tuesday said that the government has exceeded its target of raising Rs 88,000 crore in the financial year 2021-22
Which state has how many vaccine doses left, read full information in one click
The Government of India has so far given approximately 18 crore vaccine doses to states and union territories. According to the Union Health Ministry, till today at 8 am, a total of 17,93,57,860
Shooting at Mall of America: 3 killed, 2 injured; Armed civilian shot at the attacker and killed him
There has been a shooting at a mall in the US state of Indiana. 3 people have died in this incident. 2 people are injured. An armed civilian has killed the attacker. At present, the reason for the
Arvind Kejriwal Health: Tihar also accepted that Kejriwal has lost weight in jail; AAP's response to medical report
Aam Aadmi Party has responded to the medical report of Tihar Jail administration on Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. MP Sanjay Singh reacted and said that Tihar Jail has finally accepted that the sugar
Taliban releases abducted Indian nationals, arriving at Kabul airport - Afghan media
All 150 people, including the kidnapped Indian nationals, are safe from the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. According to Afghan media, the passports of these
Bharat Ratna to Malaviya, Padma Vibhushan to Advani
New Delhi, March 30 (IANS) A number of leaders and prominent people from various walks of life were honoured on Monday with the country's high awards by President Pranab Mukherjee at a civil
Speed of corona subsided in Mumbai, the positive rate reached in single digit for the first time in 45 days
There is relief news from Mumbai amid the increasing pace of Corona infection across the country. After 45 days in the city, the positivity rate has come down to a single digit. According to BMC
Rahul angry with ED: read documents for two hours before signing, got words with two meanings changed; Then asked why are you bothering by calling again and again
ED questioned Rahul Gandhi for the second consecutive day on Tuesday in the National Herald case. 40 questions were asked in the first round of 8 hours. During this, Rahul expressed his displeasure
Aryan Khan came out of jail on bail, but cannot do this work
Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan has been released from jail after three weeks in the Mumbai drug bust case. However, even after his release, the court has put some conditions as to what he cannot do.
Haryana government's big move, state board examinations of 10th are canceled, 12th exam postponed
Chandigarh. After the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) board canceled the 10th examinations, the Haryana government has also canceled the Haryana School Education Board Bhiwani C 10th
