Public Accounts Committee can't take suo motu notice of CAG report: K V Thomas

NEW DELHI: The issue of a loan reportedly sanctioned to a company in which Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari was a board member, could come up for scrutiny before the Public Accounts Committee only if it is referred to it by the presiding officers of Parliament, its chairman K V Thomas said today.

Thomas said that PAC can go into the issue if the CAG report presented in the recently-concluded budget session of Parliament is sent to it for examination by the Lok Sabha Speaker or the Rajya Sabha Chairman.

He said that such reports are sent either to PAC or Public Undertakings Committee(PUC).

Besides, Thomas said, if PAC receives any complaint on the issue, he can place it before the Committee which takes a decision on how to deal with the matter.

CAG had pointed out "irregulairities" in a loan granted to Nagpur-based Purti Group of which Gadkari was once a board member. The Union Minister has dismissed the whole issue as a "conspiracy" against him. He has offered to resign as a minister as well as a parliamentarian if the allegations levelled against him were proved.

The CAG report had said that Purti Sakhar Karkhana Ltd, an energy company, was sanctioned a loan of Rs 84.12 crore by Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency ( IREDA) in "violation" of the government organisation's guidelines.