Kolkata’s business district comprises a collection of buildings, several of which are still standing today, that have their own fascinating histories. The streets on which they stand and the names that they continue to be commonly identified by also serve as markers of the city’s urban development over the centuries. Among these is Council House Street, one of the oldest in the city.

This street runs from the Raj Bhavan all the way up to the old HSBC building, flanked by the Office of the Accountant General on one side and the grounds of the Raj Bhavan on the other. The street gets its name from the old Council House that once stood here, erected in 1764, which served originally both for the meetings of the East India Company’s Council, which ran the affairs of Bengal, and also as the Governor’s residence, according to an entry in the British Library archives.

Located at the crossing of Council House Street and Hare Street the gorgeously beautiful structure was built in the year 1911 when the capital of British India was shifted to Delhi from Calcutta. 

Lord Curzon, the Governor  General of the British India established this building which was originally used as the office of the Imperial Department of Commerce and Industries in the undivided India.

Officially it is known as Commercial Library of the DGCI (Director General of Commercial Intelligence). Actually the library was set up in 1914 and started functioning in 1916.  


The large building with long circular pillars and triangular pediments with neo-classical features represents the authority of the British era. 

Office of the Director General of Audit (Mines)

The regional Commercial Audit Office at Calcutta was formed late in 1955 for auditing 8 Central Government and 17 State Government commercial concerns in West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and Assam. With effect from 01.04.1969, the Commercial Audit Office, was upgraded as the Office of the Member, Audit Board & Ex–officio Director of Commercial Audit – I, Kolkata. Subsequently, the Office was re-designated as Office of the Principal Director of Commercial Audit & Ex–officio Member, Audit Board – I, Kolkata with effect from 28 th February 1990.On joining of Smt Suparna Deb , Director General ,on 23rd october2017 this office was again re-designed as O/o Director General of Commercial Audit ,Ex –Officio Member Audit Board -I, Kolkata and Director General of Audit (Mines), Kolkata.

Director General of Audit (Mines), Kolkata is responsible for audit of 57 Public Sector Enterprises and one Statutory Corporations, out of which 46 are audited as principal auditor and 11 as sub-auditor. Total 16 Autonomous Bodies under the jurisdiction of this office, 4 are audited as Principal Auditor and 12 are as sub-auditor.25 grants in Aid audit  and 18 field offices of Govt of India   This Office audits a mix of companies covering the fields of Mining, Heavy Engineering, Power, Dredging etc. Some of the major companies for which DGA (MINES), Kolkata is the Principal Auditor are ‘National Aluminium Corporation Ltd. (NALCO), ‘Balmer Lawrie & Co. Ltd.’ and ‘Hindustan Copper Ltd.’ (HCL). The important Autonomous Bodies (ABs) includes ‘Paradip Port Trust (PPT), Kolkata Port Trust (KPT), National Jute Board, Calcutta Dock Labour Board etc.

This office conducts the audit under section 13 & 15 and autonomous bodies under section 14 & 19, 19(2)/20 of CAG's (DPC) Act 1971. Besides, this office is also responsible for Finance audit, autonomous bodies, externally aided projects and expenditure audit of 18 field offices of various ministries.

• Branch office 

This office has one branch office at Damoder valley corporation , Kolkata. Branch office, DVC (Hqrs.), conducts audit of accounts of Damodar Valley Corporation (Corporation). It is the sole auditor of the Corporation. Financial audit in respect of the Corporation is conducted by this office and observations on the financial statements, if any along-with reply of the auditee included in Audit Report of the Corporation in its Annual Report.

There are two Resident Audit Offices (RAO) at Durgapur Thermal Power Station, Durgapur and Chandrapura Thermal Power Stations, Chandrapura.

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