Senior Congres leader Mallikarjun Karge is an angry man. Kharge says that they will summon Attorney General, CAG over ‘Lie’ to SC that PAC saw Rafale report. The 29-page ruling by the bench of the Chief Justice of India mentions pricing details of the Rafale being shared with the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India which, in turn, shared its report with the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). But Mallikarjun Kharge, who chairs the PAC, says no such report has come to him yet and “neither does the CAG know about it”. This is a twist in the tale.
BJP MP Subramanian Swamy has responded to this and says, “PAC Chairman Mallikarjun Kharge saying he has not got CAG report then we have to take his word, he should file affidavit or review petition in court saying I did not receive and the committee has not examined it.”
Says Kharge, “Govt lied in SC that the CAG report was presented in the house and in PAC and PAC has probed it. The government said in SC it is in public domain. Where is it? Have you seen it? I am going to take this up with other members of PAC. We will summon AG and CAG.”PAC Chief Mallikarjun Kharge said, “CAG does not have their comments and there is no report” and he is not aware of any report, “neither does the CAG know about it”. He said he asked “the Deputy CAG today” since there was a PAC meeting in the afternoon.Asked about it, Union Minister Arun Jaitley said: “I think whatever are the contents of the verdict in terms of the procedural details or the direction which has been given, that’s not a subject matter of our comment.”If something is required to be done in that regard, he said, “I think the lawyers will examine it and do the needful”.On Page 21, in Para 25 of the judgment, the bench states: “The material placed before us shows that the government has not disclosed pricing details, other than the basic price of the aircraft, even to Parliament, on the ground that sensitivity of pricing details could affect national security, apart from breaching the agreement between the two countries. The pricing details have, however, been shared with the Comptroller and Auditor General and the report of the CAG has been examined by the Public Accounts Committee. Only a redacted portion of the report was placed before Parliament, and is in public domain.”
