AgustaWestland issue: Newly constituted PAC to hold first meeting tomorrow

NEW DELHI: Members from the BJP are expected to raise a demand for PAC taking up the contentious AgustaWestland issue when the newly-constituted body holds in first meeting tomorrow.

It being the first meeting of this Public Accounts Committee(PAC), the Comptroller and Auditor General Shashi Kant Sharma will do the customary briefing.

Interestingly Sharma was earlier Defence Secretary and the committee will have to face a dilemma if it decides to take up the VVIP chopper scam issue and feels the need to call the former Defence Secretary.

"If we decide to call the former Defence Secretary before the committee, we will have to call Sharma, who is now CAG. It's a ticklish issue," said a member speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Sharma had joined the Defence ministry in 2003 as a joint secretary. Sharma also held the post of director general (acquisition) in the Defence ministry in 2007-10. He became Defence secretary later in 2011.

In May 2013, the BJP had opposed appointment of Sharma as CAG. However, the 1976 Bihar cadre IAS officer was made CAG the same month replacing Vinod Rai with a tenure up to September 24, 2017.

Expressing reservations over the appointment of Sharma as CAG, the BJP had then said that there could be a "conflict of interest" as he will be auditing defence deals in which he had a role as Defence Secretary.

The argument of the BJP then was that Sharma has spent over 10 years in the Defence Ministry during which high profile and controversial deals were finalised like the VVIP Chopper agreement.