Jaipal meets Singh after CAG rebuke

Although Reddy refused to comment on his meeting with the Prime Minister that lasted for nearly half an hour, sources in the oil ministry said the meeting was fixed much before the submission of the draft audit report by the CAG on June 8.

The ministry, they said, might take 5-6 weeks to reply to the points that have been raised by the CAG. The delay in the reply of the oil ministry may mean that the final report of the CAG would not be tabled in the monsoon session of Parliament next month.  The CAG had asked for comments in two weeks’ time.

However, according to sources, the ministry is taking longer time because of entirely new set of officials. The decision on KG-D6 field was taken at a time when Murli Deora was the minister and V K Sibal was the head of ministry’s technical arm, Directorate General of Hydrocarbons. Sibal was also present in the ministry on Tuesday probably to explain his role in KG-D6 approvals to new oil secretary G C Chaturvedi and his team.

Notably, the CAG in its draft report has said the oil ministry and its regulatory arm for oil hunting companies, Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, showed favour to at least three explorers.