Author: Our Special Correspondent
Publication: The Hindu
Date: January 25, 2002
The Chief of Army Staff, S. Padmanabhan,
has defended the casket deal with an American firm, saying, "There was
no mala fide intent. An unnecessary controversy will hopefully now be put
to rest."
In a letter to the Defence Minister,
George Fernandes, Gen. Padmanabhan commended a booklet on the deal, observing
that it put the procurement in perspective. The chronology and facts had
been lucidly brought out for all to see that there was no mala fide intent.
On January 21, Gen. Padmanabhan
was responding to an official letter of January 14 from the Defence Minister,
George Fernandes, which probably directed him to peruse the booklet. The
Army chief's letter was released to the media by the author of the booklet,
R.V. Pandit.
Speaking at the news conference
called by Mr. Pandit, former Army chief, Shankar Roy Chowdhury, regretted
that turmoil over defence purchases, beginning with Bofors, had throttled
decision-making in the Defence Ministry. "The whole process of acquisition
of technology for the armed forces has come to a halt on the administration
side" because of political controversies on defence purchases and the subsequent
repercussions in the media, observed Gen. Roy Chowdhury.
Making it clear that he was not
holding a brief either for or against the casket purchases, Gen. Roy Chowdhury,
who is also an independent Rajya Sabha MP, felt that while political debate
and media reporting should continue, there should be some way of insulating
decision-making from the turbulence generated. As a result of delays in
decision-making, the armed forces were forced to surrender up to Rs. 2,000
crores annually. "Part of the reason is due to hesitancy on the part of
officials."
Earlier, Mr. Pandit, who is Mr.
Fernandes' friend, flayed the CAG for being "miserly on truth" and felt
the media should apologise to Mr. Fernandes for tarnishing his reputation.
At the same time, he felt the Government
should not go in for arbitration proceedings in the U.S. to recover the
money from the casket manufacturer. "Let us not ridicule ourselves in the
eyes of intelligent people," he observed, while conceding that bureaucratic
gaffes had marred the deal.
