#FakeNews: Media puts Tamil Nadu AG behind bars (PS: It’s the Accountant General)

In August last year, Senior Advocate Vijay Narayan was appointed as Advocate General (AG) for Tamil Nadu. And according to media reports that got it horribly wrong, he was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with a bribery case last weekend..On March 23, Deccan Chronicle and Business Standard, among other publications, had carried a headline that would have evoked shock amongst the legal fraternity in the state. That headline read, ‘CBI arrests TN Advocate General in bribery case’..But the news outlets seem to have gotten their AGs confused; the Advocate General was reported to have been arrested, when in fact it was Accountant General of Tamil Nadu Arun Goyal who was picked up by the CBI for his alleged involvement in a bribery case..The root cause for the gaffe seems to be an error in print syndication; the news was attributed to the usually reliable Press Trust of India..The Accountant General (Accounts & Entitlements) is a post created in lieu of Articles 149 and 151 of the Constitution, read with Section 11 of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (Duties, Powers & Conditions of Service) Act, 1971. This ‘AG’ is responsible for compilation and preparation of the accounts of Government of Tamil Nadu..As per the actual news, Accountant General Goyal was arrested by the CBI after it was alleged that he had demanded Rs. 5 lakh from a PWD officer to post him as divisional accountant. Goyal was appointed ‘AG’ in 2015.