BANGALORE: Former Karnataka Lokayukta N Santosh Hegde today slammed Congress for attacking Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) for its report on the coal allocation issue, wondering if the judiciary would be the next target.
“Today, they are using all sorts of phraseology against the CAG; tomorrow they may do it against the judiciary also…very unfortunate,” Hegde told PTI here.
Hegde noted that under the Constitution, CAG is obligated to find fault of the Government, if any, and make it known to Parliament. “He (the CAG) has done his duty”.
A member of the erstwhile Team Anna, Hegde said that if one did not agree with the CAG report, the issue can be raised in an appropriate forum. “You can’t go on attacking a constitutional body,” he said.
He also criticized BJP for continuing to stall the proceedings of Parliament demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the coal blocks allocation issue.
“They don’t allow the proceedings to go on and at the same time you collect your fees (entitled for Parliamentary members during session),” Hegde said. “I can understand they have a cause but it should be limited to a certain period only.”
But he saw a case for cancellation of coal blocks allocation to players who failed to comply and institution of an independent enquiry on the issue.
Hegde referred to a significant number of cases where the allot tees had not even started mining.
“If they have not fulfilled their obligations and only benefited by increasing their share value, the whole thing is irregular,” he said.
-PTI
