Government terms report on official's 'objection' in Rafale deal confusing
New Delhi, Sep 27 : The government on Thursday said the media report which talked about a senior official putting his objections to the benchmark pricing of 36 Rafale fighter jets "seeks to create confusion through distorted and selective presentation of facts" and maintained that the report suffered from "several factual errors that impact its entire tone and tenor".
Referring to the report carried by a newspaper which said that a Joint Secretary and Acquisition Manager (Air) had raised questions about the benchmark pricing of the jets and put his objections on record, official sources said in making "a lot of certain supposed observations attributed to an individual officer", the report "betrays ignorance of the collegiate process involving due deliberations and diligence at various levels, through which all major government decisions are typically taken".
The sources said the process is designed to ensure utmost integrity and transparency while allowing for "opinions to be freely expressed, recorded, discussed and, if necessary, modified".
The government has stated earlier that it has followed all provisions laid down in the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) and other relevant guidelines while finalising the deal, and noted that the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) accepted the necessity for the acquisition of Rafale aircraft and mandated the Contract Negotiating Committee (CNC).
Following the stipulated process, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) accorded its approval to the acquisition on August 24, 2016, and not in September 2016, as has been erroneously claimed in the media report.
The said officer had signed the note considered and approved by the CCS on August 24, 2016. Thereafter, he proceeded in September 2016 for a one-week training programme - and not on leave - for which he had applied in July 2016, the sources said.
They said the media report has sought to raise questions about the price of the 36 Rafale aircraft, and noted that not only the price but also other factors including maintenance, training, armament and equipment, etc. were included in the contract for the 36 jets which represented "better terms as compared to the negotiations conducted by the previous government".
Parliament has already been informed on July 18, 2018 that the audit of capital acquisition system, including the Rafale aircraft, is being conducted by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, they said.
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Karnataka Legislative Council Chairman expresses displeasure over absent ministers
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Legislative Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti on Tuesday briefly adjourned the House, expressing displeasure over the absence of Ministers and ruling party members post lunch break.
The development comes a day after Assembly Speaker U T Khader adjourned the House and walked out in protest, over the lack of written replies from government departments to questions raised by MLAs.
The "unprecedented" move by the Speaker had caused huge embarrassment to the Congress government, forcing the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to issue directives to Ministers and bureaucrats, including suspending errant officials.
When the council resumed after lunch, Leader of Opposition Chalavadi Narayanaswamy pointed toward the empty treasury benches and suggested that ruling party members seemed to have "boycotted" the proceedings.
Only Minister of School Education and Literacy Madhu Bangarappa and Chief Whip Saleem Ahmed were in attendance.
The Chairman asked, "Ministers are not here; what should I do?"
Raising objection to empty treasury benches, Opposition Chief Whip N Ravikumar said, "If we have to speak on any issues, who should we tell? Who is there among Ministers? Where is the government?"
Following this, Horatti adjourned the House for 10 minutes.
When the House resumed, a couple of Ministers -- Ramalinga Reddy, Santosh Lad arrived, but the treasury benches by and large remained sparse as most of the ruling Congress MLCs were absent.
The Chairman asked the Chief Whip Saleem Ahmed, "If there are no members and Ministers on the treasury bench side, what is it? How should the House be run? If you don't want, I will adjourn the House for tomorrow. What other work is there during the session? If there are no members and the seats are empty, how can the House run?"
When Horatti asked the Chief Whip about the MLCs, Ahmed replied, "They will be coming."
Pointing out that MLCs were not present, despite the House resuming late post lunch, the Chairman said, "What should we do? Shall I adjourn the House for tomorrow? What do you mean that they will be coming? I don't like it."
Ravikumar attacked the ruling Congress, asking, "Before whom should we raise the issues?"
When the Chairman expressed his willingness to adjourn the House till Wednesday morning, Ravikumar said the opposition BJP was ready to participate in the proceedings, provided the treasury benches show equal cooperation.
Defending the ruling party members, Congress MLC Ramesh Babu said there was some delay in the return of his party colleagues, who had gone for lunch.
As a couple of Ministers and ruling party MLCs started trickling in, the Chairman called BJP MLC A H Vishwanth to speak on the Budget.
