The Comptroller Auditor General (CAG) is a constitutional body that can't be ignored, Union Minister for Panchayat & Rural Development Jairam Ramesh said.

Speaking to reporters, Mr. Ramesh claimed that last year he had himself approached the CAG to seek an audit of various schemes carried out by his ministry.

The Union Minister added that this year the national auditor would scrutinize his ministry's much-hyped MNREGA scheme, next year look into the government's Indira Gandhi Awas Yojana and the in the subsequent year into the Prime Minister's ambitious Grameen Sadak Yojana.

However, he made it clear that he was talking about the importance of the institution itself, and not about the present CAG Vinod Rai.

Speaking on the topic, Mr. Ramesh also declared that the union government would soon enact a law to against the use of dry toilets. He warned that the erring people could even be sent to jail.

Speaking on the topic, he said, "The Truth is there are still two to three lakh families in the country, who continue to work as manual scavengers. It is unlawful and we are concerned."

The Centre as well as every state government has claimed before the Supreme Court of India that they had totally eradicated manual scavenging. But the 2011 census claims that there are still as many as 26 lakh dry toilets spread across the country.