In 1971, the central government enacted the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (Duties, Powers, and Conditions of Service) Act, 1971.

Neither the salary nor the rights of the CAG in respect of leave of absence, pension or age of retirement can be varied to his disadvantage after his appointment.

[10] In a path-breaking judgement, the Supreme Court of India ruled that the CAG General could audit private firms in revenue-share deals with government.

[19][20] Subsequently, M Karunanidhi, the head of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party and five times Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu,[21] supported the suggestion.

Advani made this demand to remove any impression of bias or lack of transparency and fairness because, according to him, the current system was open to "manipulation and partisanship".

[28] In a chargesheet filed on 2 April 2011 by the investigating agency Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the agency pegged the loss at ₹31,000 crore (US$3.6 billion)[29] All the speculations of profit, loss and no-loss were put to rest on 2 February 2012 when the Supreme Court of India on a public interest litigation (PIL) declared allotment of spectrum as "unconstitutional and arbitrary" and quashed all the 122 licenses issued in 2008 during tenure of A. Raja (then minister for communications & IT in the UPA government) the main accused.

[30] The court further said that A. Raja "wanted to favour some companies at the cost of the public exchequer" and "virtually gifted away important national asset".

[31] Revenue loss calculation was further established on 3 August 2012 when according to the directions of the Supreme Court, Govt of India revised the reserve price for 2G spectrum to ₹14,000 crore (US$1.6 billion).

Per the judgement, "Some people created a scam by artfully arranging a few selected facts and exaggerating things beyond recognition to astronomical levels."

A 2012 CAG report on coal mine allocation[34] received massive media and political reaction as well as public outrage.

[35][36] The CAG report criticised the government by saying it had the authority to allocate coal blocks by a process of competitive bidding, but chose not to.

[37] The CAG Final Report tabled in Parliament put the figure at ₹185,600 crore (US$21 billion)[38] While the initial CAG report suggested that coal blocks could have been allocated more efficiently, resulting in more revenue to the government, at no point did it suggest that corruption was involved in the allocation of coal.

The report alleged of fraudulent withdrawal of government funds worth ₹950 crore (US$110 million) in the Bihar animal husbandry department against non-existent supplies of fodder and medicines.

[42] The oil ministry imposed a fine of ₹7,000 crores on Mukesh Ambani's company for the sharp drop in production of gas and violations mentioned in CAG's 2011 report.

[49] Then Government appointed Defence Secretary Shashikant Sharma as new CAG to audit KG Basin, said Prashant Bhushan.