Comptroller and Auditor-General’s (Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service) Act, 1971

To determine conditions of service of Comptroller and Auditor-General of India and to prescribed his duties and powers.

Comptroller and Auditor-General's (Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service) Act, 1971

[Act 56 of 1971]      [15th December, 1971]

An Act to determine the conditions of service of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India and to prescribed his duties and powers and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto

Be it enacted by Parliament in the Twenty-second Year of the Republic of India as follows:—

Chapter I

PRELIMINARY

1. Short title.

1. Short title.—This Act may be called the Comptroller and Auditor-General's (Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service) Act, 1971.

2. Definitions.

2. Definitions.—In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

(a) “accounts”, in relation to commercial undertakings of a Government, includes trading, manufacturing and profit and loss accounts and balance-sheets and other subsidiary accounts;

(b) “appropriation accounts” means accounts which relate the expenditure brought to account during a financial year, to the several items specified in the law made in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution or of the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963 (20 of 1963), for the appropriation of moneys out of the Consolidated Fund of India or of a State, or of a Union Territory having a Legislative Assembly, as the case may be;

(c) “Comptroller and Auditor-General” means the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India appointed under Article 148 of the Constitution;

(d) “State” means a State specified in the First Schedule to the Constitution;

(e) “Union” includes a Union Territory, whether having a Legislative Assembly or not.

Chapter II

SALARY AND OTHER CONDITIONS OF SERVICE OF THE COMPTROLLER AND AUDITOR-GENERAL

3. Salary.

3. Salary.—There shall be paid to the Comptroller and Auditor-General a salary which is equal to the salary of the Judge of the Supreme Court:

Provided that if a person who, immediately before the date of assuming office as the Comptroller and Auditor-General, was in receipt of, or, being eligible so to do, had elected to draw, a pension (other than a disability or wound pension) in respect of any previous service under the Government of the Union or any of its predecessor Governments, or under the Government of a State or any of its predecessor Governments, his salary in respect of service as Comptroller and Auditor-General shall be reduced—

(a) by the amount of that pension; and

(b) if he had, before assuming office, received, in lieu of a portion of the pension due to him in respect of such previous service, the commuted value thereof, by the amount of that portion of that portion of the pension; [i][* * *]

(c) [ii][* * *]

4. Term of office.

4. Term of office.—The Comptroller and Auditor-General shall hold office for a term of six years from the date on which he assumes such office:

Provided that where he attains the age of sixty-five years before the expiry of the said term of six years, he shall vacate such office on the date on which he attains the said age:

Provided further that he may, at any time, by writing under his hand addressed to the President, resign his office.

Explanation.—For the purpose of this section, the term of six years in respect of the Comptroller and Auditor-General holding office immediately before the commencement of this Act, shall be computed from the date on which he had assumed office.

5. Leave.

5. Leave.—(1) A person who, immediately before the date of assuming office as the Comptroller and Auditor-General, was in the service of Government may be granted during his tenure of office but not thereafter, leave in accordance with the rules for the time being applicable to the Service to which he belonged before such date and he shall be entitled to carry forward the amount of leave standing at his credit on such date, notwithstanding anything contained in Section 6.

(2) Any other person who is appointed as the Comptroller and Auditor-General may be granted leave in accordance with such rules as are for the time being applicable to a member of the Indian Administrative Service.

(3) The power to grant or refuse leave to the Comptroller and Auditor-General and to revoke or curtail leave granted to him, shall vest in the President.

6. Pension.

6. Pension.—(1) A person who, immediately before the date of assuming office as the Comptroller and Auditor-General, was in the service of Government shall be deemed to have retired from service on the date on which he enters upon office as the Comptroller and Auditor-General but his service as the Comptroller and Auditor-General shall be reckoned as continuing approved service counting for pension in the Service to which he belonged.

(2) Every person who enters upon office as the Comptroller and Auditor-General shall, on demitting the said office, be eligible to a pension of a sum of fifteen thousand rupees per annum which sum shall include the aggregate of all pension payable to him and the commuted portion, if any, of his pension, and the pension equivalent of the retirement gratuity, if any, which may have been admissible to him under the rules for the time being applicable to the Service to which he belonged:

Provided that if such a person is or becomes eligible, at any time, under the rules for the time being governing the Service to which he belonged to a pension higher than the said sum of fifteen thousand rupees he shall be eligible to draw, as pension, the said higher amount.

(3) A person who, immediately before the date of assuming office as the Comptroller and Auditor-General, was in receipt of, or, had become eligible for receiving, a pension in respect of any previous service under Government, shall, on demitting office as the Comptroller and Auditor-General, be eligible to a pension of fifteen thousand rupees per annum which sum shall include the aggregate of all pensions payable to him and the commuted portion, if any, of his pension, and the pension equivalent of the retirement gratuity, if any, which may have been admissible to him under the rules for the time being applicable to the Service to which he belonged:

Provided that if such a person is or becomes eligible, at any time, under the rules for the time being governing the Service to which he belonged, to a pension higher than the said sum of fifteen thousand rupees, he shall be eligible to draw, as pension, the said higher amount.

(4) Any other person who is appointed as the Comptroller and Auditor-General shall, on demitting the said office, be eligible to a pension of fifteen thousand rupees per annum.

(5) The person holding office immediately before the commencement of this Act as the Comptroller and Auditor-General shall be eligible to draw, at his option, pension at the rate at which it would be admissible to him if this Act had not come into force or at the rate specified in this section.

(6) A person who demits office as the Comptroller and Auditor-General by resignation shall, on such demission, be eligible to a pension at the rate of two thousand rupees per annum for each completed year of his service as the Comptroller and Auditor-General:

Provided that in the case of a person referred to in sub-section (1) or sub-section (3), the aggregate amount of pension admissible under this sub-section together with the amount of pension including the commuted portion, if any, of his pension, and the pension equivalent of the retirement gratuity, if any, which may have been admissible to him under the rules for the time being applicable to the Service to which he belonged immediately before he assumed office as the Comptroller and Auditor-General, shall not exceed fifteen thousand rupees per annum or the higher pension referred to in proviso to sub-section (2) or sub-section (3), as the case may be.

[iii][(6-A) Notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing provisions of this section, a person referred to in sub-section (1) who demits office [whether in any manner specified in sub-section (8) or by resignation] as the Comptroller and Auditor-General after the commencement of the Comptroller and Auditor-General's (Duties, Powers and Conditions Service) Amendment Act, 1984, shall, on such demission, be entitled to—

(a) the pension to which he would have been entitled under the rules of the Service to which he belonged by reckoning his service as the Comptroller and Auditor-General as continuing approved service counting for pension in such Service; and

(b) a special pension of seven hundred rupees per annum in respect of each completed year of service as the Comptroller and Auditor-General:

[iv][* * *]

(6-B) Notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing provisions of this section, a person referred to in sub-section (3) who demits office [whether in any manner specified in sub-section (8) or by resignation] as the Comptroller and Auditor-General after the commencement of the Comptroller and Auditor-General's (Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service) Amendment Act, 1984, shall, on such demission, be entitled to—

(a) the pension payable to him in respect of any previous service under Government; and

(b) a special pension of seven hundred rupees per annum in respect of each completed year of service as the Comptroller and Auditor-General:

[v][* * *]]

[vi][(6-C) Notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing provisions of this section, a person who demits office [whether in any manner specified in sub-section (8) or by resignation] as the Comptroller and Auditor-General after the commencement of the Comptroller and Auditor-General's (Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service) Amendment Act, 1987, shall, on such demission, be entitled to—

(a) a pension which is equal to the pension payable to a Judge of the Supreme Court,—

(i) if such person is a person referred to in sub-section (1) or sub-section (3), in accordance with the provisions of Part III of the Schedule to the Supreme Court Judges (Conditions of Service) Act, 1958 (41 of 1958) (hereafter in this Act referred to as the Supreme Court Judges Act), as amended from time to time; and

(ii) if such person is a person referred to in sub-section (4), in accordance with the provisions of Part I of the Schedule to the Supreme Court Judges Act, as amended from time to time;

(b) such pension (including commutation of pension), family pension and gratuity as are admissible to a Judge of Supreme Court under the Supreme Court Judges Act and the rules made thereunder, as amended from time to time.]

[vii][(6-D) Notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing provisions of this section, a person who demitted office [whether in any manner specified in sub-section (8) or by resignation] as the Comptroller and Auditor-General, at any time before the 16th day of December, 1987, shall be entitled to the pension specified in sub-section (6-C) on and from that date.]

(7) If a person who demits office as the Comptroller and Auditor-General is not eligible to any pension under this section but is eligible to a pension under the rules for the time being applicable to the Service to which he belonged immediately before he assumed office as the Comptroller and Auditor-General, he shall, notwithstanding anything contained in this section, be eligible to draw such pension as is admissible to him under the said rules.

(8) Except where he demits office by resignation, a person holding office of the Comptroller and Auditor-General shall be deemed, for the purposes of this Act, to have demitted such office as such if, and only if,—

(a) he has completed the term of office specified in Section 4, or

(b) he has attained the age of sixty-five years, or

(c) his demission of office is medically certified to be necessitated by ill health.

7. Commutation of pension.

7. Commutation of pension.—[viii][* * *]

8. Right to subscribe to General Provident Fund.

8. Right to subscribe to General Provident Fund.—Every person holding office as the Comptroller and Auditor-General shall be entitled to subscribe to the General Provident Fund (Central Services).

9. Other conditions of service.

9. Other conditions of service.—[ix][Save as otherwise provided in this Act, the conditions of service relating to travelling allowance, provision of rent-free residence and exemption from payment of income-tax on the value of such rent-free residence, conveyance facilities, sumptuary allowance, medical facilities and such other conditions of service as are for the time being applicable to a Judge of the Supreme Court under Chapter IV of the Supreme Court Judges Act, and the rules made thereunder, shall, so far as may be, apply to a serving or retired Comptroller and Auditor-General, as the case may be:]

Provided that nothing in this section shall have effect so as to give a person, who immediately before the date of assuming office as the Comptroller and Auditor-General, was in the service of Government, less favourable terms in respect of any of the matters aforesaid than those to which he would be entitled as a member of the Service to which he belonged, his service as Comptroller and Auditor-General being treated for the purpose of this proviso as continuing service in the Service to which he belonged.

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