New Delhi, Aug 09: Unfazed by the Opposition paralysing Parliament for the last two days, Defence Minister George Fernandes today ruled out giving the Central Vigilance Commission report on defence deals to the Public Accounts Committee as demanded by it. "The report has been labelled as top secret by Central Vigilance Commission and we cannot part with it" he told a press conference here charging the Opposition with politicising the issue of purchase of coffins during the Kargil conflict.
He refused to answer questions relating to PAC declining to give a report on the arms deals following Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) findings, an issue that rocked the Parliament on Thursday and Friday with Opposition charging the government with attempts to stall the functioning of the PAC.
"We have not hidden anything. They want the CVC report. But as far the CVC report is concerned, CVC has decreed that it is secret. There is nothing more to it, he said.”
The Minister said as far as the PAC report was concerned, his ministry had forwarded all the document. "There is no question of hiding anything and we especially have not hidden anything", he added.
Charging the Congress with having launched a "motivated and sustained campaign on the coffin issue, Fernandes said he was nowhere in the picture when the army had gone through the process of acquisition of caskets. He said the purchase had been cleared at the level of defence secretary under his delegated powers.”
He, however, made it clear that CVC had not gone into the coffin deal. Bureau Report