(1) On receipt of a report under Section 13, the Executive Authority concerned shall either remedy the defects or irregularities which may have been pointed out in the report and send to the Director within three months of the receipt of the report or within such period as may be specified under the law governing the Local Authority, intimation of his having done so, or shall within the said period, supply to the Director any further explanation as he may wish to make in regard to the defects or irregularities.
(2) On receipt of such intimation or explanation, the Auditor may, in respect of all or any of the matters discussed in his report:-
(a) accept the intimation or explanation and drop the objection; or
(b) hold that the defects or irregularities pointed out in the report or any of them have not been removed or remedied.
(3) (a) The Auditor shall send a report of his decision to the Executive Authority concerned within two months from the date of receipt by him of the intimation or explanation referred in sub section (1) or if no such intimation or explanation is received, on the expiry of the period of two months mentioned in that subsection.
(b) If the Auditor holds that any defects or irregularities have not been removed or remedied he shall state in the report:-
(i) whether, in his opinion, the defects or irregularities can be regularised and, if so, by what method;
(ii) if they do not admit of being regularised, whether they can be condoned and, if so, by what authority; and
(iii) whether the amounts to which the defects or irregularities relate should, in his opinion, be charged and, if so, against whom.
(4) The Local Authority concerned shall publish in its next Annual Report such portions of the report under Section 13, dealing with defects and irregularities falling under clause (b) of sub-section (2) together with the explanation thereof, if any, given under subsection (1) and the final report of the Auditor thereon under subsection (3). The report of defects and irregularities, the explanation thereon and the final report shall be open to inspection by the public at the office of the Local Authority for a period of one month from the date of their receipt.
(5) Nothing in this Section or in Section 13 shall preclude the Auditor, at any time, from bringing to the notice of the Government or of any officer of Government for such action as may be necessary, any information which appears to the Auditor to support a presumption of criminal misappropriation or fraud or which, in Auditors opinion, deserves special attention or immediate investigation.