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V. N. Kaul

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Vijayendra Nath Kaul
Born (1943-01-07) 7 January 1943 (age 81)
NationalityIndian
Alma materSt. Stephen's College, Delhi
Occupationformer Comptroller and Auditor General of India (2002-08)
EmployerGovt. of India/ UN ESCAP
Organization(s)C&AG, UN IAAC
Term6 years as CAG
AwardsPadma Bhushan
Websitevnkaul.in

Vijayendra Nath Kaul was the tenth Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) from 2002 to 2008.[1][2] He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2014.[3][4][5]

Early life and background

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Vijayendra Nath Kaul was born to Satindra Nath Kaul and his wife Padmavati (née Kak) in Jammu in a Kashmiri Pandit family with a long history of public service. His great grandfather Rai Bahadur Radha Kishen Kaul was the Judicial Minister and later High Court Judge of Jammu & Kashmir up to 1913.[6] His grandfather Pandit Narendra Nath Kaul, an early Indian Cantabrigian, was the Revenue Minister of the princely state of Jammu & Kashmir.[7] Kaul is married to Veena (née Razdan) and has two sons.

Kaul started school at Presentation Convent in Srinagar but after a couple of months he was moved to Rev J.D.Tytler's school in Delhi. He completed Senior Cambridge in 1959 from St. Joseph's Academy, Dehradun.[8] He got his B.A. (Hons) and master's degrees from St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi in 1964 and he joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1965. Kaul was allocated the Madhya Pradesh cadre of the IAS and began his civil service career as Assistant Collector, Bilaspur District in the then State of Madhya Pradesh. His other field postings in Madhya Pradesh were Collector and District Magistrate, Shahdol District, Collector and District Magistrate, Durg District and Commissioner, Indore Division.

Civil service career

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Kaul has worked at senior levels in government and in the United Nations. He served in the Indian Administrative Service up to 2002 and retired as Secretary,[9] Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas on being appointed the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. Prior to serving as Petroleum Secretary he was Secretary[10] in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers[11] and the Ministry of Coal.[12] Earlier, he was Finance Secretary, Secretary, Commerce and Industry and Principal Secretary, Finance and Home Departments of the Government of Madhya Pradesh.[13]

He has been Chairman of public sector and joint sector companies in Madhya Pradesh and in the Government of India including Chairman, Petronet LNG.[14] He has also served as a Director on the Boards of many private companies . He has been closely associated with international organisations. Besides working in the UN system he has been inter-alia on the Governing Boards of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions, Vienna (INTOSAI) and the Asian Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) .[15]

United Nations

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Kaul has had two stints in the United Nations. He was Regional Adviser, Trade Policy with United Nations-ESCAP at Bangkok, Thailand from 1991 to 1998. [16][17] [18] He served for a second time in the United Nations from 2008 to 2011 as Vice-Chairman of the United Nations Independent Audit Advisory Committee, New York, a subsidiary body of UN General Assembly.[19] [20]

Comptroller and Auditor General of India

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As C&AG, Kaul modernized and strengthened public audit in India. He introduced seminal reforms in audit practices by promulgating, for the first time clear guidelines on the extent and scope of audit and by developing an internationally benchmarked methodology for performance auditing. He believed that technology especially cognitive technology, robotic process automation and data analytics will play an increasing role in determining the effectiveness of public accounting and auditing activity in India. Two other major policy initiatives taken by him are still works in progress. The first was the need for department wise Audit Committees and for greater functional autonomy for Internal Audit. The second was to move the arcane pure cash based government accounting system in India to a modified accrual system in order to achieve greater government transparency, accountability and better financial management.The Finance Commission agreed with his views and the Government Accounting Standards Advisory Board (GASAB) was established.

Kaul was on the panel of external auditors of the United Nations from 2002 to 2007. He was elected[21] to audit the WHO.[22] Kaul was also the External Auditor of the Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome,[23] the International Maritime Organization (IMO), London,[24] and, the World Tourism Organization, Madrid.[25]

From 2002 to 2008 he was Secretary-General[26] of ASOSAI.[27] and the Chairman of the INTOSAI's IT Audit Committee.[28]

He has been a member of the Eminent Persons Advisory Group[29] of the Competition Commission of India[30][31][32] Kaul was also a member of the Oversight Committee constituted in February 2013 for monetisation of immovable assets [33] of Air India and to advise on the process of valuation and sale of saleable assets of the Airline.[34]

References

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  1. ^ "V.N. Kaul takes over as CAG". The Hindu. 16 March 2002. Archived from the original on 4 February 2014. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
  2. ^ "ET". Archived from the original on 2 February 2014.
  3. ^ "Padma Awards Announced". Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs. 25 January 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  4. ^ "B.S. - 2014 Padma awards".
  5. ^ "SB — Padma". Archived from the original on 28 January 2014.
  6. ^ page 216. "durbar delhi 1911".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ "page 120" (PDF).
  8. ^ "About".
  9. ^ "Outlook".
  10. ^ "Bio".
  11. ^ "tribune".
  12. ^ "Title unknown". The Hindu.[dead link]
  13. ^ "MP Treasury" (PDF).
  14. ^ "Biz Std".
  15. ^ "R Cap".
  16. ^ "??".[dead link]
  17. ^ "Untitled Page".
  18. ^ "New Chairman of FCI takes over". The Hindu. 2 June 2000. Archived from the original on 5 December 2014. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  19. ^ "IAAC".
  20. ^ "BW Bloomberg".[dead link]
  21. ^ "IE".
  22. ^ "HT — WHO audit". Archived from the original on 12 March 2014.
  23. ^ "IAAC".
  24. ^ "IAAC".
  25. ^ "IAAC".
  26. ^ "Hindu".
  27. ^ "MEA".
  28. ^ "HBL INTOSAI".
  29. ^ "Jagran".
  30. ^ "EIL".
  31. ^ "EPAG of CCI".
  32. ^ "Sunday Indian".
  33. ^ "governance". 17 September 2013.
  34. ^ "guidebook pdf" (PDF).
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