House panel summons defence chiefs

New Delhi, April 10: The three defence service chiefs have been summoned by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence, which asked them to appear before it and apprise on the level of the armed forces’ preparedness in case of an enemy attack.

The three chiefs may appear before the panel on April 20, though the date may be changed to ensure their presence.

The committee took this unprecedented step after Army Chief Gen V K Singh's letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, depicting the sorry state of affairs in the Army, found its way to the media.

New Delhi, April 10: The House panel on Monday took the decision of calling the chiefs after it heard Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma, who clarified the government's stand on a newspaper report on the movement of two Army units towards the national capital on the same day when Gen Singh moved the Supreme Court challenging the government's stand on his date of birth controversy.

The Army does not need the government's permission to move units, Sharma reportedly informed the committee headed by Congress member Satpal Maharaj. The defence secretary said that the inference drawn in the report – an attempt to stage a coup or muscle flexing by the Army – was completely wrong. Sharma underlined that no standard operating procedures were violated by the Army.

The media report was “misleading” and drew “wrong inferences,” she added. While a some MPs wanted more details, many wanted a closure of the controversy as it dealt with the Army.

Quizzed by the Parliamentarians on the involvement of retired officers in arms deals, Sharma suggested a moratorium of five years for service officers before they were allowed to take up a job in the private sector, BJP MP Uday Singh, who attended the meeting, told Deccan Herald. The MPs wondered why the Defence ministry lowered the cool-off period for service officers from two years previously to one year, which is in vogue at the moment. The Army Chief claimed recently that a retired Lt Gen offered him a bribe of Rs 14 crore to clear a tranche of sub-standard vehicles.

Besides the defence secretary, the House panel also heard Vice-Chief of the Army Lt Gen S K Singh and officials from the Indian Air Force, Defence Research and Development Organisation and Bharat Earth Movers Ltd, to understand the status of preparedness of the armed forces as the committee was discussing the budgetary proposals for defence. Last month the Centre increased the military budget by 17.63 per cent aiming to improve border infrastructure, purchase new equipment and raise new forces. The rise is possibly the highest since Kargil conflicts.

Munition shortage

Deposing before the panel, the Army vice-chief said the force was facing a shortage of certain anti-tank munitions - an issue flagged by the Army chief in his letter. Though there were reports that tank ammunition might be exhausted in 20 days due to poor reserve rather than the buffer period of 40 days, there was no official confirmation on the extent of shortage.

Following the vice-chief's deposition, the committee decided to call all three service chiefs for an ‘interaction’ which may lead to a separate report on defence preparedness, a member said.

This is an extraordinary step as in the recent past, the three service chiefs have appeared before a House panel only once. In January, 2011, the Army and IAF chiefs and the Navy vice-chief appeared before the Public Accounts Committee when it was examining a CAG report on ration supply to soldiers. BEML chief V R S Natarajan informed the panel that the company dealt with the original manufacturer of Tatra trucks and not an agent. All standard processes were followed.