Phukan report in May: Govt

An acrimony-free day in Parliament

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) today demanded tabling of reports of the Phukan Commission and the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) on arms procurement during the Kargil conflict but said it would not disrupt Parliament proceedings on the issue.

"We have written to presiding officers of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. But we want the Phukan Commission report as also the CVC report to be tabled before any discussion on the issue in Parliament," BJP spokes-man VK Malhotra told reporters after a meeting of NDA leaders, chaired by Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha LK Advani.

In the two Houses, the problem seemed to be the status of the Phukan Committee report. Law Minister HR Bharadwaj said under the Commissions of Enquiry Act there had to be a final report and an action-taken report filed by the government.

But this procedure had not been followed because the NDA government that set up the Phukan Committee was voted out of power. So the present government would go through the procedural formalities and make the report available by the first week of May.

On the CVC report, Bharadwaj said a decision had to be taken by the Cabinet committee on security as this was in its purview. The Left and the Congress in their daily briefing, criticised the Opposition for being obstructive, unreasonable and irresponsible in stalling the House on frivolous issues.

The Left parties also attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for engaging in hypocrisy in demanding a report that the BJP itself had refused to give the public accounts committee of Parliament since they were classified documents.

Former Finance Minister Jaswant Singh explained that the NDA had decided not to seek the CVC report as that would open up a Pandora's box of report laying in Parliament. But he said now the BJP wanted the CVC report to be tabled on grounds that the document had now become public since it had been quoted in an affidavit placed before the SC.

He also said the CVC dealt with defence procurements before the NDA tenure and asked the government to bring out all documents relating to defence procurements since 1989 so that a fair and open discussion could be conducted on the matter.