Amid uproar in Parliament over the reports of alleged coal scam of Rs. 10.7 lakh crore, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday said CAG’s report is only a draft.
“It (Comptroller and Auditor General’s report on coal allocation) is not yet CAG report. It is a draft report”, he told reporters here.
Mr. Mukherjee further said, “normal practise is they (come out with) draft report... then Ministry’s comment come. After the comments... there is a regular system through which it will be placed on the table of (both Houses) Parliament.”
CAG’s draft report has estimated a Rs 10.6 lakh crore loss to the exchequer on account of allotment of coal blocks without auction, during 2004 to 2009, to 100 private and public sector companies.
The draft created a political storm leading to disruption of proceedings of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
The official auditor has estimated a “windfall gain” of Rs. 6.31 lakh crore (PSUs — Rs. 3.37 lakh crore and private parties — Rs. 2.94 lakh crore) based on the prices prevailing during the year of allocation on constant cost and price basis as on March 31, 2011.
The CAG report comes more than a year after its report on the allocation of scarce 2G telecom spectrum on first-come- first-service basis. It had estimated a presumptive loss of Rs. 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer.
