Army Chief appears before PAC

NEW DELHI - Army Chief V K Singh on Wednesday appeared before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in connection with alleged irregularities in the canteen stores supplies.

The PAC had called the chiefs of the three services - the Army, the Air Force and the Navy - for a hearing after a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report pointed out irregularities in the supply chain management of rations by Canteen Stores Department (CSD).

Singh appeared before the PAC headed by senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi at around 11 a.m.

Air Chief P V Naik is likely to appear before the Committee later in the day.

The Navy would, however, be represented by Vice Chief D K Deewan, as chief Nirmal Verma is in Indonesia on a “pre-scheduled” four-day visit which began on Sunday.

The CAG had said in a 2009 report that the canteen stores department’s procurement and distribution of dry rations was faulty.

The management of the canteen stores department had not assessed the rations requirement and, also, much of it was of poor quality, the report said. (ANI)