The Supreme Court made it clear on Thursday that private companies that share revenue from natural resources such as spectrum with the government would be subjected to audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

A Bench of Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Vikramajit Sen dismissed an appeal filed by the Association of Unified Telecom Services Providers against a Delhi High Court judgment which held that the CAG could audit private telecom companies.
Justice Radhakrishnan said it was important that the CAG examined the accounts of service providers in a revenue-sharing contract to detect any unlawful gains. The Bench pitched for accountability, and said Parliament must be informed of the quantum of revenue generated from spectrum use and if it had been assessed, collected and accounted for.
The Bench said, “CAG has the powers to conduct revenue audit of all accounts drawn by the Unified Service Agreement (UAS) licensees and that the accounts of the licensee, in relation to the revenue receipts, can be said to be the accounts of the Central Government and thus subject to a revenue audit.”