KOCHI: The Vizhinjam Judicial Commission constituted to probe the irregularities in the Vizhinjam port agreement signed between the previous UDF Government and the Adani Group expressed dissatisfaction over the methods used by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in evaluating the deal. At its sitting here on Monday, the Commission, headed by Justice C N Ramachandran Nair, said CAG should not have considered the port project as a public sector entity to evaluate the losses from the project. “There is procedural lapse in the CAG’s findings,” the Commission said. It also raised doubts on whether the auditor general was misled by someone in his office.
Former secretary of the Ports Department James Varghese claimed the evaluation that the project would incur losses to the government had existed even before UDF Government came into power. The LDF Government led by V S Achuthananthan had decided to go forward with the project despite studies pointing towards the losses. The Commission has sought clarity on the current government’s stand on continuing with the project and asked if the government plans to withdraw from the project considering the financial loses estimated in CAG report.
Govt hasn’t backed out
The counsel appearing for the Adani Group, however, claimed that government had not backed out of the project and the company had received around I290 crore for the project.