The much awaited Comptroller and Auditor General’s reports on allocation of coal blocks and GMR-run Delhi Airport will be tabled in Parliament during the current session, Finance Minister P. Chidabaram said on Wednesday.
“The CAG reports were received in the Ministry of Finance on May 11, 12th and 13th were Saturday (Sunday), so it was put up to the Finance Minister on May 14 and we approved sending of the reports to the President,” he told reporters in New Delhi.
“The reports were sent on May 16, it was received back from the office of the President on May 26 at 2:30 p.m., by that time the House was in the process of being adjourned, therefore it was not laid on the table of the House at the end of the last session,” he said.
On being asked whether these reports will be tabled in this session, “Yes”, he said.
“This morning we have issued notice to both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha requesting the Speaker and the Chairman to fix a date to lay the reports on the table of both the houses simultaneously, once they give us a date we will lay all the three reports. There is no delay at all,” he added.
The CAG report on allocation of coal blocks between 2004 and 2009 without auction is expected to peg the value of “undue benefits” that the government extended to private entities alone at more than Rs. 1.8 lakh crore.
The draft CAG report on coal allocation has alleged undue benefits of Rs. 15,849 crore to Reliance Power, by way of surplus coal allocation for two of its Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPPs). The draft report pegs benefit to Reliance Power from surplus allocation for the Sasan UMPP at Rs. 4,875 crore.
CAG has found that Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), which operates the Delhi’s airport in partnership with the Airports Authority of India, is losing vast amounts of revenue through under-utilisation of land granted to it at concessional rates.
