PAC to examine CAG reports on coal block allocation

Parliament's Public Accounts Committee on Thursday decided to examine the four latest reports of the CAG, including the one on coal block allocation, which are critical of the government.

With the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party locking horns over CAG report on coal inside Parliament, its ripples are likely to be felt in the meetings of the PAC when the issue is taken up for scrutiny.

In its meeting on Thursday, the committee led by BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi decided to include in its agenda the CAG reports on coal allocation, Delhi International Airport Ltd, Ultra Mega Power Plants and Atomic Energy Regulatory Board.

All the reports were tabled in Parliament in the ongoing monsoon session.

With the panel already scrutinising the government auditor's reports on the Commonwealth Games, KG Basin and Civil Aviation, it may not take up the four new issues immediately.

"We will need details from the CAG and the concerned ministries before we actually start working on the new agendas...it will take up to a month before the relevant documents are ready to be circulated to the members," a member said.

PAC's controversial draft report on the 2G scam had strongly indicted former telecom minister A Raja and come down heavily on the Prime Minister's Office and the cabinet secretariat for not taking "corrective action" while not sparing even the PM for "some unfortunate omissions".

The draft was rejected by Congress members in the PAC and Speaker Meira Kumar had returned it back to Joshi following the controversy.

The 2G draft is on the list of PAC's 'unfinished agenda' and has been carried forward this year.

Besides the four new CAG reports, the PAC has 59 items on its agenda.

In its report on coal blocks, the CAG has said that private firms are likely to gain Rs 1.86 lakh crore from coal blocks that were allocated to them on nomination basis instead of competitive bidding, which amounted to the loss to national exchequer.

The CAG had also slammed the government for giving out Delhi airport and its land with a potential earning capacity of Rs 1,63,557 crore to private-led operator DIAL which made a total equity contribution of only Rs 2,450 crore.

In its report on AERB, the CAG had questioned the delay in granting legal status to the Board when several countries, including Pakistan had conferred such status to their nuclear regulators.