On March 09, 2021, 14th Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), Shri Girish Chandra Murmu was re-appointed as the Chairman of the Panel of External Auditors of the United Nations(UN) for the year 2021. He was initially elected as Chairman of the Panel for 2020.
Roles and responsibilities of the Chairman:
To lead the panel to report and audit the accounts and management operations of the UN and its specialised agencies.
About G.C.Murmu:
i.G.C.Murmu was born on 21st November 1959 in Mayurbhanj District of Odisha.
ii.He is the 1985-batch Gujarat cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer.
iii.He was the first Lt Governor of Union Territory(UT) of Jammu and Kashmir in October 2019 after its formation under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.
International Organisation for which he has been the External Auditor:
i.He has been on the UN Board of Auditors from 1993 to 1999 and 2014 to 2020
ii.Presently, he is the External Auditor of the United Nations’s Specialized Agencies like
- World Health Organization(WHO) (2020- 2023)
- Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (2020- 2025)
- Inter-Parliamentary Union (2020-2022)
iii.In the recent past, he has also been the External Auditor of
- World Food Programme(WFP)
- World Intellectual Property Organization(WIPO)
- World Tourism Organization(UNWTO)
- International Atomic Energy Agency
- International Organization for Migration(IOM)
- International Maritime Organization(IMO) and
- The Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons(OPCW)
Recent Related news:
On February 15, 2021, The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) appointed Preeti Sinha, an Investment and development Banker of Indian Origin as the New Executive Secretary of UNCDF. Sinha succeeds Judith Karl.
About the UN Panel of External Auditors:
Establishment – 1959 by UN General Assembly.
External Auditors: Panel has Auditors from 13 countries — India, Germany, Chile, China, United Kingdom, France, Philippines, Switzerland, Italy, Ghana, Indonesia, Canada, and Russia.
About Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG):
The CAG of India is an authority, established by Article 148 of the Constitution of India, which audits all receipts and expenditures of the Government of India and the state governments. CAG is appointed by the President of India.
Establishment– 1858
Headquarters– New Delhi
The current/14th CAG – Girish Chandra Murmu, assumed office on 8 August 2020
