Coal scam: CAG anguished over leakage of draft report

Comptroller and Auditor General of India Vinod Rai on Thursday expressed deep anguish over leakage of an audit report on coal block allocation and sought from Prime Minister a probe into the source of the leak.

Clarifying that the details in the media report quoting an audit report were "exceedingly misleading", he said in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the leaked details "are under discussion at a very preliminary stage and do not even constitute our pre-final report".

He also sought Prime Minister's assistance in finding a "responsible solution to this predicament".

In the letter, he referred to an earlier proposal of his to include the establishment of CAG coming under RTI but felt that audits are "work in process" leading to reports being tabled in Parliament.

"Therefore, bringing them out in the public domain before being tabled, is a breach of privilege," Rai said adding unfortunately, print and electronic media somehow get hold of such preliminary drafts which are at the initial stages of audit and flash them.

"They blatantly announce that copies of such drafts are in their possession. Since, these documents are not privileged, we are severely constrained from taking any action against them and face the odium of our sources have been leaked these reports," he said.

"Such leakage causes very deep anguish. I am taking the liberty of writing to you to point out that we have repeatedly being writing to the government and the Parliament Secretariat.

"Our letters have not evinced a reply. Even my letter to the Law Minister has remained unanswered. We remain in the dark about trend of discussions in this regard and continue to face adverse media attention on repeated leakages which are very different from the very report that is finally tabled in the House," he said.

Rai said the leak of a report regarding coal block allocation in a Delhi paper evidently implies that the copy of the report are some of the extracts or either in the possession of the reporter or have been seen by him.

"Naturally, leakage of this report may attract an allegation that the 'CAG leaks'. It would console me immensely if the source of the leak is investigated," he said.

Referring to an earlier letter of July 5, 2011, he said he was not in a position to repudiate such an allegation as the leak could have been from my office or from the department to which this draft report was made available on February 28.

"I had emphasised that since I have no assurance in this regard, I cannot make any assertion to you. Nevertheless, such leaks of reports which are under preparation to be tabled in the legislature, or providing replies on such audit queries under RTI which can often be misleading, are issues with which we are struggling to find a solution," Rai said.