The man who audited the Rafale deal is now the subject of the controversy

India’s Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), Rajiv Mehrishi, today gave Prime Minister Narendra Modi his biggest win in the ongoing controversy over the government’s deal to by 36 Rafale jets from the French company Dassault. Modi government’s deal was 2.86% cheaper than that planned by the earlier Congress regime, the report said.

However, Modi’s rivals have questioned the credibility of Mehrishi while escalating their attack on the government alleging corruption in a crucial defence deal.

The Congress has alleged that Mehrishi was privy to the internal negotiations in the Rafale deal and therefore he cannot be an independent auditor.

Over the course of his career, Mehrishi has essayed a number of prominent roles both at the state and national level, cementing his credentials as an insider in the Modi administration.

Mehrishi entered civil services in 1978 from the Rajasthan cadre.

November 2009 - April 2012: Mehrishi was an additional secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture. He was specifically tasked with spearheading research and education initiatives.

October 2012- November 2013: He was a secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs under the previous Congress government.

December 2013: He was moved to Rajasthan as the chief secretary in the BJP government led by Vasundhara Raje. This was the last role he held as an IAS Officer prior to his retirement after a 30-year career. As chief secretary, he played a big role in Raje’s labour and land reforms. This involved an easing of hiring norms, especially for apprenticeships, and the expansion of an industrial belt from Gurgaon to Jaipur. The same reforms were championed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who made them a big part of the BJP government’s Ease of Doing Business Agenda a few years ago. However, it has been speculated that some of these policies eventually cost Raje the state electionst Raje the state elections in December last year.

However, within three months after Narendra Modi came to power in May 2014, Mehrishi was called on to serve in the central bureaucracy.

October 2014- August 2015: Mehrishi was the secretary of the finance ministry, charged with economic affairs.

His work as a government auditor now has also drawn criticism because of his tenure at the finance ministry. The question raised by the opposition is that whether someone who has been an integral part of spending decisions in the past should be allowed to audit the same decisions. However, the Modi government has dismissed the allegations saying that his responsibilities had nothing to do with government expenditure decisions.

September 2015: Mehrishi was accused of evading taxes on a land deal. Mehrishi reportedly saved ₹10 million of capital gains tax by claiming that a piece of land sold in a commercial transaction was actually an agricultural plot, which qualifies for different tax treatment. The plot had been as agricultural land in 2006 but sold as commercial land (without the requisite payment of fees for the change in title) to benefit from a higher selling price. The allegations, which analysed by Newslaundry earlier this year, did not lead to any action against Mehrishi.

August 2015- August 2017: Mehrishi served as the secretary of the Home Ministry for the current government. As home secretary, he notably called out Pakistan as a safe haven for terrorists and criminals on the run like Dawood Ibrahim. This was also the time when the political crisis in Kashmir escalated. The central government was blamed for using excessive force against rebel groups, and often civilians too found themselves in the firing line.

Despite the Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s attempt to salvage BJP’s position in Jammu and Kashmir, its local ally the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) snapped ties in June 2018 as the crisis unraveled.

The first allegation against the current government in the controversial deal to buy Rafale jets emerged in November 2016. Mehrishi was appointed as the CAG in September 2017, while the audit of the deal began a few months later in 2018.