The public accounts committee (PAC) of parliament has come down heavily on the defence ministry for a series of missteps that led to price escalation, delays and other complications in the purchase of Scorpene submarines.
“What concerns the committee more is that systemic deficiencies played a greater role than any other cause and delayed the acquisition of the submarines,” a PAC report said. A secretary in the defence ministry went on record to admit that “there are problems in the system, mindset and in the whole process”.
The committee criticised the government for selecting French consortium Thomas-CSF for the Rs18,000-crore submarine contract despite the company’s reluctance to release tube-launch missiles (Exocet SM 39) for two HDW submarines “until and unless” the Scorpene submarine contract was linked to long-term naval cooperation with France.
“Without disputing the contention of the ministry that due to limited choice, preference was given to the French submarine and missiles, the committee would, however, like to express its displeasure over the manner in which the Indian side succumbed to the conditions imposed by the French while implementing the deal,” the panel said.
While acknowledging that defence procurement was a complex process, it said, “The committee fails to understand the reasons for inordinate delay in defence procurement when a definite timeframe has been laid down for each of the activities involved in the process. In this context, the committee finds that Pakistan has acquired Agosta 90B submarines from the same French firm at a much faster rate than India.”
Admitting that “transparency is and should be the essence of governance, particularly in matters relating to national security”, the panel said in the name of transparency, “things should not be allowed to linger on for an indefinite period which would ultimately prove detrimental to the interests of the nation”.
The committee called for a “paradigm shift in the entire system and the mindset of the decision-makers”.
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