PUSHED TO THE MARGIN
* No Muslim has become CAG since 1864
* Two Muslims among 63 at CAG top management
* 19 Muslims among 585 CAG officials across states
* 15 Muslims among 1,503 retired IA&AS officers
THE Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), whose roots go back to 1858 when the British took over the administrative control of India from the East India Company and set up the Office of the Accountant-General, has continued to remain one of the organisations where Muslims are in minimal numbers.
Two years after its formation and six years after its name change came its first chief, a British national, for two years. The ‘Supreme Audit Institution of India’ has seen a total of 30 chiefs till now, without a Muslim. No Muslim became Deputy Comptroller and Auditors in its history, according to a new book by Mohammed Abdul Mannan, At The Bottom Of The Ladder: State Of The Indian Muslims – https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0GF1Q9R25 – which quantified Muslim presence in 150 key organisations, including Union ministries, departments, and organisations.
The CAG has audited and investigated several of the most controversial corruption scandals in the country’s history, and continues as one of the bulwarks of the democratic system of government, along with the Supreme Court, Election Commission, and the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
Served by officials belonging to the Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IA&AS), the CAG has 63 top management officials who include two Muslims – Khalid Bin Jamal, currently Director-General (Exam) and Jahangir Badshah Rasool Inamdar, a director presently handling Autonomous Bodies. Among the 585 CAG officials across the states are 19 Muslims.
Members from the largest minority community are Faisal Imam, Director General Regional Capacity Building and Knowledge Institute at Ranchi, Naveed Ahsan Bhat, officer at the National Academy of Audit and Accounts in Shimla, Sheikh Aijaz Ahmed, Deputy Director of Audit Office at Kolkata Ordinance Factory’s Jabalpur branch, Ms Nabat Khaliq, Deputy Director at Audit Office for Defence Services in Chandigarh, Mohammed Suahil Fazal, Deputy Director at the Audit office at Eastern Railways in Kolkata, and Khalid bin Jamal, Director General for Audit, Finance and Communication in CAG Delhi.
The other officers are Altamash Ghazi, Deputy AG at Audit- II office for West Bengal, Arif Hussain Sheikh and Ms Nazli Jafri Shahin, both at the office of AG (Audit) for Punjab, Ahmed Hasan-Uz Zaman Choudhary, Deputy AG for Audit office in Meghalaya, Ms P H Sheba, Deputy AG at Audit-II for Kerala. In the Audit-I office for Kerala, there are two Muslim officials – K Mohammed Danish, Deputy AG and Naseef Abdul Khader, Senior Deputy AG.
The Audit-II office for Gujarat has one Muslim officer, Arshad Mohammed, Deputy AG. In Delhi, the AG Audit Office has K S M Rafi as Deputy AG. Chhattisgarh’s AG Audit office is headed by Mohammed Faizan Nayyar, Accountant General. The Accounts and Entitlement Office for Nagaland has Azhar Jamal as Senior Deputy AG. The Accounts Entitlement office in Kerala has B Mohammed Basha, Deputy AG for Administration. There are no Muslims among the 13 other officials at the CAG.
Official data shows that there are only 15 Muslims among the 1,503 retired IA&AS officers. Presently, one of the 15 CAG’s Nodal Liaison Officers is a Muslim: Rizwan Ahmed, Welfare Assistant posted at Bhopal AG (Audit-II). At the Government Accounting Standards Advisory Board (GASAB) Office at the CAG, constituted by officers of premier accounts and finance streams belonging to the Civil Services, there are no Muslims among the six members or 13 Technical Advisors. Data about officials of the Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IA&AS) revealed how Muslims were in lesser numbers over the years. Between 1989 and 2024, as many as 691 were recruited as IA&AS officials through UPSC Civil Services Examinations, the highest being 104 in 2021, and the lowest being two in 1989. No data is available on IA&AS officials between 1972 and 1988.
To read and obtain more data, please visit:
At the Bottom of the Ladder: State of the Indian Muslims –https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0GF1Q9R25
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