PAC to take up CAG report on AgustaWestland choppers

Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has decided to take up the CAG report on the contentious AgustaWestland choppers issue apart from over half-a-dozen other defence-related matters.

A bulletin issued by Lok Sabha on May 27 said that the PAC, which is headed by Congress member K V Thomas, has selected these subjects based on various reports of the CAG pertaining to several ministries and departments for examining them during 2016-17.

The issue of acquisition of helicopters for VVIPs is one of the 100 subjects that the panel will overall examine.

At the first meeting of the newly-constituted PAC on May 18, a strong demand was made by members of BJP for taking up the CAG report on the VVIP chopper deal.

Raising the demand, Vijay Goel (BJP) had then said that the PAC should take up the 2013 CAG report on "irregularities" in the VVIP chopper deal.

The demand was also supported by BJD's B Mahtab, who said there should not be any bar on PAC taking up even those issues that are being investigated by agencies like the CBI or those pending before the courts.

The issue had led to a huge controversy during the recently-concluded Budget Session of Parliament with members from Congress and BJP sparring over the incident for days.

While the government vowed to track down the main beneficiaries of the kickbacks so that "we can do" what "we could not do in Bofors", Congress said it was ready to face a probe that is monitored by the Supreme Court.

On the AgustaWestland issue, CAG had submitted a report in August 2013, concluding that the process, from framing of quality requirements to the conclusion of the contract of the VVIP choppers, differed from established procurement procedures.

The report came before PAC of that time, which was then headed by BJP's Murli Manohar Joshi, but it did not take up the issue.

The panel has also decided to continue with its inquiry into some aspects of 2G scam, Commonwealth Games scam and the issue of burgeoning Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) of public sector banks, which had been gone into by the last PAC, whose term ended on April 30.

One of the 100 important issues being taken up by the panel is UPA's flagship MNREGA scheme which the present government has also decided to continue. Public Private Partnership Projects in Indian Railways is another subject.

Besides the 100 issues, the key parliamentary committee has also selected seven other issues on suo motu basis including recent developments in the Telecom Sector including allocation of 2G and 3G Spectrum.