BharatNotes 🏛️ Governance
Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)
GS2
Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)
Constitutional authority under Article 148 who audits the accounts of Union and State governments, certifying whether funds were spent on authorised purposes and with financial propriety.
⚠️ UPSC confused pair — don't mix up with Attorney General of India
Similar-sounding titles, unrelated offices: the Attorney General (Article 76) is the government's chief legal adviser; the CAG (Article 148) is the independent auditor of public accounts at the Union and the States.
Context & Background
Inherited from the British Auditor-General; constitutionalised at Independence to ensure legislative control over executive expenditure.
UPSC Exam Relevance
Articles 148–151; differences between CAG and internal audit; role in financial accountability; appointment/removal similar to a judge of the Supreme Court.
Seen in UPSC Question Papers
- Prelims 2025Constitutional Bodies
- Mains 2024 · GS2 · 10 marksIndian Polity
- Mains 2018 · GS2 · 10 marksIndian Polity
- Mains 2016 · GS2 · 12.5 marksIndian Polity
Each entry is a real UPSC previous-year question whose text mentions “Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)”. Practice the full question sets in the Governance PYQ bank.
