January 30: The Office of the Auditor General has been running under the acting auditor general for eight months. The post of Auditor General has remained vacant ever since the then Auditor General Tankamani Sharma Dangal retired after completing his term on May 22. After Sharma's retirement, the then Deputy Auditor General Rammaya Kunwar was given the responsibility of Acting Auditor General for one and a half months. After Kunwar went on compulsory retirement on August 7, Maheshwar Kafle got the responsibility.

Bamdev Sharma was given the responsibility of Acting Auditor General after Kafle went on mandatory retirement on Friday due to the age limit.

This clearly shows that the government is hesitating to appoint the Auditor General. Due to the lack of leadership, the office has not been able to formulate a new strategy while the body responsible to monitor the government’s finances has not been able to settle arrears worth billions of rupees.

According to the constitutional provisions, the term of the Auditor General is 6 years.

Political parties try to appoint someone close to them as the Auditor General who can fulfill their agenda.

As the ruling parties wait for the right moment to appoint the Auditor General, the financial discipline of the government is getting worse. The Office of the Auditor General audits all federal and state government offices including the Office of the President and Vice President, Supreme Court, Federal Parliament, Provincial Assembly, Provincial Government, Local Level, Constitutional Bodies and Offices, Courts, Attorney General's Office, Nepal Army, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force. The purpose of the audit is to protect the public resources of the country.

The Office of the Auditor General also gives necessary suggestions and recommendations based on the effectiveness of government income and expenditure. The office submits and publishes the annual report of all government agencies to the President. The Office of the Auditor General has the right to see the accounting documents at any time to audit various agencies of the Central and State Governments. However, the lack of leadership has made the Office of the Auditor General weak in its role.

During the beginning of the current fiscal year, the Secretariat of the Constitutional Council invited applications for the office bearers of various constitutional bodies including the vacant Auditor General. 15 people have applied for the post of Auditor General. Among those applying to become the Auditor General who will serve a 6-year term are Acting Auditor General Kafle, who recently went on compulsory retirement, former Acting Auditor General Kunwar and recently appointed Acting Auditor General, Bamdev Sharma, Deputy Auditor General Baikuntha Bahadur Adhikari and Chandrakant Bhandari.

Toyam Raya, the chief statistics officer of the National Statistics Office, is the sitting secretary who applied, while former secretaries Gopinath Mainali, Ramprasad Thapalia, Hari Basyal, Ram Sharan Pudasaini, Shankar Kharel, and Shishir Kumar Dhungana have also applied for the coveted post. Similarly, chartered accountants Subodh Karna and Hari Silwal have also applied for the position.

Due to non-compliance with the laws and regulations, the arrears to be settled by the Auditor General's 60th annual report has reached Rs 959 billion.

Baikuntha Bahadur Adhikari, the spokesperson for the Office of the Auditor General, said that he is confident that the Auditor General will be appointed soon as per the constitutional provisions.