59Audit

(1) The Chief Auditor shall conduct a monthly examination and audit of the accounts of the Council and shall report thereon to the Chairperson, who shall publish monthly an abstract of the receipts and expenditure of the month last proceeding signed by him and by the Chief Auditor.

(2) The Chairperson may also, from time to time and for such period, as he may think fit, conduct independently any examination and audit of the accounts of the Council.

(3) For the purpose of examination and audit of the accounts of the Council, the Chief Auditor shall have access to all the accounts of the Council and to all records and correspondence relating thereto.

(4) The Chief Auditor shall audit the accounts of the Council with the assistance of the officers and other employees subordinate to him.

(5) In the discharge of his functions under this section the Chief Auditor shall,--

(a) audit the accounts of expenditure from the revenue of the Council, expenditure on account of loan works and expenditure incurred out of special funds and shall ascertain whether moneys shown therein as have been disbursed were legally available for, and applicable to, the service or purpose to which they have been applied or charged, and whether the expenditure conforms to the authority which governs it;

(b) audit the accounts of debts, deposits, sinking funds, advances, suspense and remittance transactions of the Council and report upon those accounts and upon the results of verification of the balance relating thereto.

(6) The Chief Auditor shall examine and audit the statement of accounts relating to the commercial services conducted in any department of the Council including the trading, manufacturing and profit and loss accounts, and the balance-sheets where such accounts are maintained under the orders of the Council and shall certify and report upon these accounts.

(7) The Chief Auditor shall in consultation with the Chairperson and subject to any directions given by the Council determine the form and manner in which his reports on the accounts of the Council shall be prepared and shall have authority to call upon any officer of the Council to provide any information necessary for the preparation of these reports.

(8) The Chief Auditor may make such queries and observations in relation to any of the accounts of the Council which he is required to audit and call for such vouchers, statements, returns and explanation in relation to such accounts as he may think fit.

(9) Every such query or observation as aforesaid shall be promptly taken into consideration by the officer or authority to whom it may be addressed and returned without delay with the necessary vouchers, documents or explanations to the Chief Auditor.

(10) The power of the Chief Auditor with regard to the disapproval of, and the procedure with regard to the settlement of objections to expenditure from the revenues of the Council shall be such as may be prescribed by the Chairperson in Consultation with Chief Auditor, and with the approval of the Council.

(11) If the Chief Auditor considers it desirable that the whole or any part of the audit applied to any accounts which he is required to audit shall be conducted in the offices in which those accounts originate he may require that those accounts, together with all books and documents having relation thereto, shall at all convenient times be made available in the said offices for inspection.

(12) The Chief Auditor shall have the power to require that any books or other documents relating to the accounts he is required to audit shall be sent for inspection by him:

Provided that if the documents are confidential, he shall be responsible for preventing disclosure of their contents.

(13) The Chief Auditor shall have authority to frame standing orders and to give directions on all matters relating to audit, and particularly, in respect of the method and the extent of audit to be applied and the raising and pursuing the objections.

(14) Expenditure sanctioned by the Chief Auditor shall be audited by an officer to be nominated by the Council.

(15) The Chief Auditor shall report to the Chairperson any material impropriety or irregularity which he may at any time observe in the expenditure or in the recovery of moneys due to the Council or in the accounts of the Council.

(16) The Chairperson shall cause to be laid before the Council every report made by the Chief Auditor to the Chairperson and every statement of the views of the Chief Auditor on any matter affecting the exercise and performance of the powers and duties assigned to him under this Act and the Council may take such action in regard to any of the matters as aforesaid as the Council may deem necessary.

(17) As soon as may be after the commencement of each year, the Chief Auditor shall deliver to the Council a report of the entire accounts of the Council for the previous year.

(18) The Chairperson shall cause the said report to be printed and shall forward as soon as may be printed copy thereof to each member of the Council.

(19) The Chairperson shall also forward without delay to the Government so many copies of the said report, as may be required by the Government with a brief statement of the action taken or proposed to be taken if any:

Provided that the Government may at any time appoint auditor for the purpose of making a special audit of the General Account of the New Delhi Municipal Fund and reporting thereon to the Government and the costs of such audit, as determined by the Government, shall be chargeable to the New Delhi Municipal Fund. The auditor so appointed may exercise any power which the Chief Auditor may exercise.