Submit CVC Report on Defence Purchases to PAC

Date: 
Wednesday, January 30, 2002

Press Statement

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

                                                Submit CVC Report to PAC

The decision of the Defence Minister, George Fernandes, to deny the Public Accounts Committee of parliament access to the Central Vigilance Commissioner's report on defence purchases is indefensible. The CVC had been requested to scrutinse the purchases of defence equipment for the past one decade. His report is of the highest public interest in the light of the continuing scandals surfacing in defence deals.

In a democratic system, defence contracts involving huge amounts of money must be transparent and accountable to parliament. To take cover behind grounds such as "prejudicial to the interests of the State" are untenable. The Vajpayee government must immediately ensure that the report is made available to the Public Accounts Committee and a similar approach must be adopted in making all relevant documents available to the PAC regarding the purchases made during the Kargil war which has been the subject of scrutiny by the CAG.