THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Under fire over the allegations of irregularities pointed out by the CAG audit report, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday directed the Home Secretary to probe the charges levelled against the procurement made by the police department.
Home Secretary Vishwas Mehta has been instructed to check whether the allegations of irregularities and violation of existing rules mentioned in the audit report had any merit.
The CAG report had pointed out that the Store Purchase Manual and the Vigilance directives were overlooked while purchasing equipment and vehicles. It had also stated that INSAS rifles and cartridges had gone missing. The Crime Branch officials on Monday had claimed that of the 660 INSAS rifles procured by the Special Armed Police, 647 were in the camp while the rest were with the officers stationed in Manipur.
Meanwhile, the decision to hand over the probe to the Home Secretary has raised a few eyebrows. The critics say this was just an eyewash and meant to take the sting out of the embarrassment.
They say the Home Secretary, who is the administrative head of the home department under which the police come, and other senior police officers would have been presented with the draft paragraphs by the CAG if there were any adverse mention against them. “The normal procedure is that the mentioned officers write back to the CAG giving their justifications. So that means senior officials were in the know of the remarks. So what is the use in seeking a report from the same Home Secretary now?” asked a former chief secretary.