New Delhi: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Parliament will take up the Rafale deal issue on suo motu basis for discussion, which would pave the way for it to summon either the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) or the Attorney General (AG) to seek details on the controversial matter, overriding reservations from several members of the panel.
Sources privy to details said that the chairman of the PAC is well within his or her right to select any agenda for discussion before the committee on suo moto basis.
Therefore Congress MP Mallikarjun Kharge, who heads the high-level panel, could soon select the Rafale issue as part of the agenda for the committee’s meeting.
Once summoned, the panel could seek details from these officials on the report of the CAG on Rafale deal, which is yet to be laid before Parliament.
They further informed that irrespective of the fact whether the CAG report related to the controversial Rafale deal has been laid before the Parliament or not, once the PAC chairman suo moto decides to take up the matter for discussion, the CAG and the AG can be summoned before the panel.
After Mr Kharge had said on December 15 that he will request all members of the PAC to summon the AG and the CAG to question them over the public auditor’s report on the Rafale deal, several MPs, mainly from the BJP, had expressed their reservation over the proposal.
However some other non-BJP members of the PAC had said that the chairman could not summon the officials before the panel as the Rafale deal issue was not part of its agenda, and also because the CAG report on Rafale deal had not been presented in the Parliament.
But as the PAC chairman can suo moto choose any subject to be part of the committee’s agenda, the objections by various members will not stand, sources privy to procedures said.
In the 22-member PAC, the BJP is in majority with 12 MPs and there is one member each of its allies, Shiv Sena and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).
