The report of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the audit of Reliance Industries Ltd’s Eastern offshore KG-D6 gas block and the production sharing contract with the government will be delayed further.

The panel, which had been deliberating on the report for over three years, has decided to wait for the second audit report of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG), which is likely to quantify the losses to the exchequer due to certain clauses in the PSC.

A member in the panel told BusinessLine that the panel’s proceedings on the first report are over.

“The CAG told us that the second report will be tabled in Parliament soon. Most of the members felt that our work will not be complete unless we study the losses to the exchequer due to the PSC and due to the New Exploration Licensing Policy. The second report, we were told, quantifies the losses to the government,” the member.

Former chairman of the panel Murli Manohar Joshi was of the view that the ‘KG Basin scam is as big as the 2G scam.’ The PAC had summoned officials of Reliance and the Petroleum Ministry on the matter. The present panel headed by KV Thomas continued the efforts of Joshi-headed panel.

“We are also going into the details of NELP. KG Basin is such a case that can clearly assess the strengths and weaknesses of the NELP. We will be able to do that only after going through the second report,” the member added.

There is a consensus among the PAC members that the pre-qualification criteria for awarding the blocks and system of auditing itself were faulty and need improvement. The PAC, the member added, agrees with the CAG’s report on the hydrocarbon production sharing contracts.

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