Audit Bill approved by Cabinet sans surcharge clause

• Power of surcharge returns to ministry secretaries 
• President to be vested with surcharge powers on chief financial officers

By Chathuri Dissanayake

The Cabinet yesterday approved the much-delayed Audit Bill, sans the surcharge clause, the reason for the opposition to the new law by both politicians and senior state administrative officers.

Cabinet approval was granted subject to two amendments concerning the powers to issue a surcharge, a senior Cabinet Minister told Daily FT.

The new bill vested the power of issuing a surcharge on the Audit Commission formed under the 19th Amendment. However, a number of ministers and ministry secretaries opposed this clause, resulting in a delay in the bill being presented to Parliament. This clause has now been removed with a proposed amendment.

According to the amendments proposed, the power of issuing a surcharge will return to the Chief Financial Officer of the institution, the Ministry Secretary.

The amendments will also remove the power given to the Auditor General to impose a surcharge on ministry secretaries. 

Instead, the power to issue a surcharge in the event the Chief Financial Officer is found guilty of malpractice will be vested in the President, who is also the appointing authority.

The amendments have been forwarded to the legal draftsman before they are presented in Parliament.

Auditor General Gamini Wijesinghe has been pushing to get the bill passed for a long period of time, stressing that the work of the department has almost come to a standstill without an Audit Act following the 19th Amendment.

The Audit Bill has gone through over 22 amendments so far, but has failed to gain the support of Cabinet until now.