Accusing the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of not following its mandate, the Government on Friday said that the official auditor's report on coal block allocations tabled in Parliament would be considered final only after it was examined by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
The CAG report on the alleged irregularities in the allocation of coal blocks has pegged loss to the exchequer, as on March 11, 2011 at a whopping Rs 1.86 lakh crore (US$37bn). CAG said that it has arrived at the estimated loss based on the average cost of production and average sale price of opencast mines of Coal India in FY11.
Since July 2004 as many as 142 coal blocks were allotted to government and private parties without "transparency and objectivity," says the CAG report.
Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, held the Coal portfolio between 2006 and 2009.
Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), V. Narayanasamy said today that he would not like to go into the merits of the CAG report on coal blocks. Unfortunately, CAG has a certain mandate under the constitution. According to me, CAG is not following the mandate," Narayanasamy said.
According to the minister, the CAG reports would go to the PAC, comprising members from various political parties and headed by a member from the main opposition party.
Narayanasamy said that the PAC was like a "mini parliament" and would submit its report to Parliament. "Then alone action can be taken by the government. Then only (it) becomes final," he said.
Narayanasamy said that the "draft CAG report" had been prepared on the basis of certain documents which they think is their view.
The BJP attacked the Prime Minister for the alleged malpractices in the allocation of coal blocks between 2006 and 2009, calling it one of the biggest scams of the UPA.
"The UPA II (United Progressive Alliance) is filled with incidents of corruption, each one that comes is bigger than the previous one. And this one is perhaps the biggest," said BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
She said that the CAG report should have been tabled in the last session of parliament.
Swaraj's BJP colleague, Rajiv Pratap Rudy said that the Prime Minister, who was holding the coal portfolio in this period, should answer. "The CAG has pointed out a loss of Rs. 1.86 lakh crore to the exchequer. The BJP has been raising the issue for quite some time now," Rudy said.
Another BJP leader, Ravi Shankar Prasad said: "The Prime Minister was coal minister for three years. In UPA's maladministration, these are three more skeletons out of cupboard."
However, the Government termed as erroneous the loss estimated by CAG.
Union Coal Minister, Sriprakash Jaiswal strongly defended the country's "transparent" coal field allocations, after the CAG accused the Government of selling dozens of coal blocks at a fraction of their market price.