In a first instance of its kind, Army Chief V K Singh appeared before Parliament's Public Accounts Committee in connection with alleged irregularities in the canteen stores supplies.
The PAC had called the chiefs of the three defence services for a hearing after a CAG report pointed out irregularities in the supply chain management of rations by Canteen Stores Department. Singh appeared before the PAC headed by senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi at around 1100 hrs and senior Army officials made a presentation of management of rations in the Army.
Air Chief P V Naik is likely to appear before the committee later in the day. The Navy would be represented by Vice Chief D K Deewan, as Navy chief Nirmal Verma is in Indonesia on a "pre-scheduled" four-day visit which began on Sunday. The armed forces have decided to stick to their stand that their unit-run canteens (URC) are beyond the purview of the PAC.
"We still maintain that URC is beyond their purview. That is the basic issue on which I presume the hearing
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