(1) Every Warehousing Corporation shall maintain proper accounts and other relevant records and prepare an annual statement of accounts including the profit and loss account and the balance sheet in such form as may be prescribed:
     Provided that, in the case of the Central Warehousing Corporation, the accounts relating to the Warehousing Fund and the General Fund shall be maintained separately.
     (2) The accounts of a Warehousing Corporation shall be audited by an auditor duly qualified to act as an auditor of companies under section 226 of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956).
     (3) The said auditor shall be appointed by the appropriate Government on the advice of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India.
     (4) The auditor shall be supplied with a copy of the annual balance sheet and the profit and loss account of the Warehousing Corporation and it shall be his duty to examine them together with the accounts and vouchers relating thereto, and he shall have a list delivered to him of all books kept by the Corporation and shall at all reasonable times have access to the books, accounts and other documents of the Corporation and may require from any officer of the Corporation such information and explanations as the auditor may think necessary for the performance of his duties as auditor.
     (5) The auditor shall make a report to the shareholders on the accounts examined by him and on the annual balance sheet and the profit and loss account and in every such report, he shall state whether in his opinion the accounts give a true and fair view--
         (a) in the case of the balance sheet, of the state of the Corporation's affairs at the end of its financial year, and
         (b) in the case of the profit and loss account, of the profit or loss for its financial year,
and in case he has called for any explanation or information from the officers, whether it has been given and whether it is satisfactory.
     (6) The appropriate Government may, after consultation with the Comptroller and AuditorGeneral of India at any time issue directions to the auditor requiring him to report to the appropriate Government upon the adequacy of measures taken by a Warehousing Corporation for the protection of its shareholders and creditors or upon the sufficiency of his procedure in auditing the accounts of the Corporation and may enlarge or extend the scope of the audit or direct that a different procedure in audit may be adopted or direct that any other examination may be made by the auditor if in the opinion of the appropriate Government public interest so requires.
     (7) A Warehousing Corporation shall send a copy of every report of the auditor to the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India and to the Central Government at least one month before it is placed before the shareholders.
     (8) Notwithstanding anything hereinbefore contained in this section, the Comptroller and AuditorGeneral of India may, either of his own motion or on a request received in this behalf from the appropriate Government, undertake in respect of a Warehousing Corporation such audit and at such time as he may consider necessary:
     Provided that where the Central Government is required to make any payment on account of the guarantee given by it under sub-section (1) of section 5, such audit shall be undertaken by the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India or any person authorised by him in this behalf.
     (9) The Comptroller and Auditor-General of India and any person authorised by him in connection with the audit of the accounts of a Warehousing Corporation shall have the same rights, privileges and authority in connection with such audit as the Comptroller and Auditor-General has in connection with the audit of Government accounts and in particular, shall have the right to demand the production of books, accounts, connected vouchers and other documents and papers and to inspect the office of the Corporation.
     (10) The annual accounts of a Warehousing Corporation together with the audit report thereon shall be placed before the annual general meeting of the Corporation within six months of the close of the financial year.
     (11) Every audit report under this section shall be forwarded to the appropriate Government within a month of its being placed before the annual general meeting and that Government shall as soon thereafter as may be cause the same to be laid before both Houses of Parliament or the Legislature of the State, as the case may be.