Nothing wrong in criticising CAG's findings: Kurien

"I don't think criticising CAG's findings is a wrong practice. But while doing so, personal motives should not be attributed to the person occupying that office", Kurien told at a meet-the-press programme of the Press Club here.

He said the reports of CAG could not be taken as the final verdict on any issue.

The normal practice was to send CAG's reports to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of parliament, which would examine various aspects of the issue involved and hear all sides before taking a final call on the CAG's findings, he said.

Kurien, who has been a member of Parliament since 1980s, said his experience had been that the parliamentary committees in the country had been functioning very well and both the ruling and opposition members on them discharge their duties with great sense of responsibility.

"Even when the proceedings in Parliament are stalled, the members co-operate well with the works of parliamentary committees," he said.

Asked how he took virtual washout of the last session of parliament under the opposition protests over coal allocation scam, he said, "parliament is a forum for debate and not a place for slogan shouting."

"I do not want to go into the merit of the issues (that led to stalling of proceedings). But debates should have taken place in Parliament. When that does not happen it reflects failure of democracy", Kurien said.