Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: A petition was moved in the Supreme Court by senior advocate and anti-graft activist Prashant Bhushan on Monday with a plea to declare the appointment of Shashi Kant Sharma as the head of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) as illegal.
The petitioner, Prashant Bhushan, while challenging the appointment, termed the appointment of defence secretary Shashi Kant Sharma as the next CAG of India “illegal and unconstitutional”.
Earlier, Bhushan had said, “The appointment would violate the principle of ‘institutional integrity’ that the Supreme Court had laid down in 2011.”
“Sharma has a serious conflict of interest as he has served as the director general-acquisitions in the ministry of defence from 2003 to 2010, and subsequently as the defence secretary. During his tenure as director general, defence deals worth thousands of crores took place. These deals are being investigated over kickback allegations,” Prashant Bhushan added.
Shashi Kant Sharma was sworn in as CAG by President Pranab Mukherjee in the Rashtrapati Bhavan on May 23.
The 61-year-old 1976 Bihar cadre IAS officer replaced Vinod Rai, who superannuated on May 22 after a five-and-a-half year eventful tenure as the head of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG).
Sharma`s appointment came at a time when the CAG is under sharp attack from the government and ruling party for its reports on assessment of Rs 1.76 lakh crore loss in allocation of 2G spectrum.
Under Rai`s tenure, the CAG was also accused of going beyond its auditing ambit and indulging in analysing policy decisions.
