Will reply to draft CAG report in 8 weeks: Reddy

Refuting the attacks made by Opposition parties on the draft CAG report on audit of oil and gas block awarded to private companies, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister S Jaipal Reddy today said his ministry had sought eight weeks’ time to respond to the report.

Referring to the comments made by senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, Reddy said: “If he is driven by conviction, he should give a notice.”

He added that once the CAG report was finalised, it will first go to Joshi, who also heads the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament. Reddy said that by commenting on the draft report the opposition parties are prejudicing the process of objective examination by the CAG.

Reddy, however, made it clear that the CAG report would have no bearing on the $7.2-billion deal between Reliance Industries (RIL) and BP whererin RIL is selling its 30 per cent stake in 23 oil and gas blocks.

“By criticising it Murli Manohar Joshi and Sitaram Yechury are jumping the gun. Murli Manohar Joshi as PAC chief is compromising his own position. The octogenarian Parliamentarian is hunting for headlines. Murli Manohar Joshi should leave this to younger people. If leakage is breach of privilege of Parliament, he should give notice,” Reddy said.

Reddy said his ministry would not hesitate to take ‘remedial measures’ if valid criticism was made in the final report. “Our ministry will approach the subject with an open mind. We will give well-concerned replies.”

While the Communist Party of India (Marxist) alleged that the oil ministry helped Reliance Industries in gold-plating, Reddy clarified that the CAG report had only examined the KG-D6 accounts for the years 2006-07 and 2007-08. “They did not look at the accounts of 2008-09 and 2009-10,” and therefore it was not in a position to quantify the financial impact if at all, he said.

On CAG’s recommendation that the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) should be strengthened, Reddy said he did not object to it. “It can be considered if a similar suggestion is made in the final report,” Reddy said.

The CAG draft report, leaked early last week, said the ministry and its technical arm DGH bent rules by allowing RIL to inflate capital expenditure by 117 per cent on developing its D1 and D3 fields in the Krishna-Godavari basin off India’s eastern coast.

The ministry and DGH are also alleged to have favoured Cairn India and a trilateral joint venture between Reliance Industries, BG Group Plc and state-owned ONGC that operates the Panna-Mukta and Tapti group of gas fields.