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Blunders, bungling in NTRO, says SC

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Indian Express

Krishnadas Rajagopal : New Delhi, Tue Apr 17 2012, 00:50 hrs

The Supreme Court used terms like “blunders committed” and “bungling up” to describe the goings-on in the the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), the government’s ultra-secretive technical intelligence wing under the court’s scanner following allegations of corruption and financial irregularities.
A Bench of Justices H L Dattu and C K Prasad said in ab open court on Monday that the government has filed its third and latest status report. The hearing was based on a PIL filed by V K Mittal, a scientist who had pioneered the formation of the NTRO but later pulled out after being “disgusted” by the agency’s functioning.

Referring to the status report filed in a sealed cover by Additional Solicitor General Harin Raval, the SC informed Mittal’s lawyer, Jayant Bhushan, that “some progress has been made and they are seriously considering some inquiries and even termination of some officers after consulting the Prime Minister’s Office”.

“So far three reports have been filed. These reports go into the affairs of the NTRO… they have pointed blunders committed by these people and where they have committed the blunders. Steps are being taken, they say, and amounts lost should be adjusted,” the Bench observed.

“We will give them time till July 30. If by that time they don’t comply, we will make them comply. On July 30, we will give the matter a final look. Further hearing is not required. There has been bungling,” the court said.

The court had decided to keep an eye on the NTRO after the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) exposed the alleged irregularities involving top NTRO bosses in a special audit report tagged “top secret”.

The apex court had issued notices to the Union of India through the Prime Minister’s Office, Central Vigilance Commission, NTRO through its chairman, and the CAG in August 2011.

Created in 2004 under the Prime Minister’s Office, the NTRO essentially deals with missile monitoring, satellite and airborne imagery, cyber patrolling and security, cyber offensive operations, communication support systems, as well as cryptology.

Mittal had approached the SC after the Delhi High Court on April 16, 2011 refused to take any action, leaving it to the CAG “to proceed in accordance with law”. In his petition, Mittal submitted that mere disciplinary proceedings against the errant officers of NTRO was not enough as the “misdeeds of those officers warrant initiation of criminal proceedings”.

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Where is the Tatra scam whistle-blower?

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Reported by Tejas Mehta,   Updated: April 04, 2012 18:40 IST -NDTV

New Delhi:   Has the whistle-blower in the Tatra truck scam gone underground fearing for his life? Since the Army Chief General VK Singh disclosed last week that he was offered 14-crores as a bribe to clear “sub-standard” trucks, a new surge of attention is being paid to the 7000 Tatra trucks that have been bought by the Army since 1986. Tatra is a Czech-manufacturer. It is owned by Vectra, a London-based company, which supplies parts to a defence-run public sector unit, BEML, based in Bangalore. The trucks are assembled at BEML and sold to the Army. Their performance and price have both been questioned by military analysts in the past, but it took General Singh’s statement about the bribe to prompt close scrutiny. A CBI inquiry is looking at how the trucks were sold in violation of rules – all defence equipment has to be bought directly from the manufacturer but Tatra trucks allegedly come to the Army via middleman.

The man who may have some answers to the many questions about Tatra trucks is SN Ashoka, a former Assistant General Manager in the Trucks Division of BEML. “Ashoka is the real whistle-blower in this scam. He worked for BEML and knows A to Z details of the scam. He feared for his life. For the past week we have not been able to get in touch with him,” says Dr Hanumanthappa, the President of the All India Federation SC/ST and Minorities Employees Welfare Association, Karnataka, who submitted a confidential report written by Mr Ashoka to Sonia Gandhi, Defence Minister AK Antony and President Pratibha Patil. In August 2009, Mr Ashoka wrote a memorandum to his boss, the Chairman of BEML VRS Natarajan. Mr Ashoka enumerated various charges of corruption against the Chairman in that note. One of the allegations he raised was that Tatra trucks were being bought with the use of agents or middlemen. Mr Hanumathappa submitted the report to the Prime Minister, Defence Minister and Sonia Gandhi. But he claims that no action was taken.   “We have observed in the last few days suspicious movements around our office and home. There is an international mafia that is connected to this scam and we fear for our lives. We will seek police protection,” says Hanumathappa’s son Ananda Kumar in Bangalore.

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Tatra truck deal: Antony faces jail for neglect of duty?

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Manoj Mitta, TNN Apr 1, 2012, 06.13AM IST

NEW DELHI: Defence minister A K Antony had better come up with a “reasonable excuse” for waking up to corruption allegations in the Tatra deal two years after they had been brought to his notice. For, he would otherwise be liable for a criminal offence punishable with imprisonment up to six months.

The belated registration on Friday of a CBI case related to Tatra indicates Antony violated a legal duty when the bribery allegations had first been brought to his notice in writing by his party colleague Ghulam Nabi Azad in 2009 and then verbally by Army chief Gen V K Singh in 2010.

His prolonged failure to take action on the issue till it came out in the open flies in the face of the duty cast on “every person” by Section 39 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

When anybody becomes “aware of the commission of or of the intention of any other person to commit” any of the range of offences listed in Section 39 CrPC, he “shall … forthwith give information” to the nearest magistrate or police officer of “such commission or intention”.

The offences which every person is thus required to report immediately include those related to “illegal gratification”, which come under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Violations of Section 39 CrPC are punishable under Section 176 of the IPC, which prescribes a maximum six months is jail. It penalizes whoever is “legally bound” to give any information relating to “the commission of an offence or… for the purpose of preventing the commission of an offence”.

The only loophole available to Antony is to cite some “reasonable excuse” for his failure to refer the Tatra issue immediately to the CBI. But then, Section 39 CrPC is so stringently worded that it casts a “burden” on the person concerned to prove the reasonableness of his excuse for not performing his duty.

It is doubtful whether Antony can cite the absence of written complaint by Singh as a “reasonable excuse” for not acting promptly. The Army chief, too, is liable under Section 39 CrPC for assuming he can leave it to Antony to initiate the legal process. Since the law requires him to report the matter, he cannot cite his communication to his superior as a “reasonable excuse”.

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PMO, NSA shielding CAG-indicted NTRO – The Pioneer

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SUNDAY, 18 MARCH 2012 00:27 J GOPIKRISHNAN | NEW DELHI

While the Prime Minister’s Office and the National Security Advisor are trying to hush up the wrongdoings by powerful technical intelligence agency, NTRO, by not tabling the CAG report in Parliament, the CAG response to an RTI query confirms blatant violations in purchase and recruitments in the sensitive organisation.

The CAG submitted its report to the President in mid-February 2011. As per tradition, this should have been tabled in Parliament in the next session. But the Government has not mustered the courage to table it even after more than a year.

The Government may attract breach of privilege notices from parliamentarians as it is going to submit the report to the Supreme Court on March 19. All the CAG reports are first placed in Parliament, which makes it public.

This will be the first time the Government will bypass Parliament and submit a CAG report to the Supreme Court. The SC had ordered for production of the controversial CAG report in a sealed cover on a petition filed by former joint secretary of National Technical Research Organisation VK Mittal.

“We have noticed lack of transparency and non-compliance of rules and procedures in procurement of systems/stores/equipment and deficient procurement management resulting in cases of excess payment/wasteful expenditure/loss to exchequer,” said the CAG’s office in the RTI reply sought by whistleblower VK Mittal.

“We have noticed cases of appointment of ineligible candidates and lack of transparency in recruitment of regular employees also in NTRO…. We have noticed lack of transparency in appointment of contractual employees… We have noticed instances of misuse of official position,” added CAG’s office.

CAG decision to audit on NTRO affairs in December 2009 was vehemently objected by then National Security Advisor MK Naryanan and later overruled by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. NTRO, which was formed after the Kargil war, works under NSA who reports to the Prime Minister.

The CAG submitted its performance audit on the NTRO, the first such audit report on an intelligence organisation in mid-February 2011. The report, according to sources, exposed the style of functioning and rampant corruption in secret service organisation, nepotism and siphoning money in the name of national security. The findings of the CAG were pointing directly towards the “arbitrary decisions” of then NSA and higher officials in the PMO, said sources.

Among the major findings, the blatant violation of UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) purchases by manipulating the decisions of Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS). The CAG report, a copy of which is also with National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon over the past one year, has indicted former NTRO Chairman KVSS Prasad Rao and its Advisor MS Vijayaraghavan for misdeeds in several purchases.

The CAG’s Special Audit on Performance and Finance of NTRO has revealed that the agency, in a bid to favour the Israeli vendors, never informed the CCS on adding extra cost of Rs 150 crore. The CCS sanctioned Rs 300 crore for purchase and NTRO manipulated the accounting procedures and hiked the purchase amount to Rs 450 crore.

More over CAG found that the entire such purchase to favour the Israeli vendor lead to inferior quality and the entire UAVs are still non-operational.

The CAG in its report on the functioning of NTRO found that as many as 143 posts in the sensitive organisation were filled not according the procedures and observed severe nepotism in such postings. The CAG decided to audit when Mittal, who quit from the organisation and complained on illegalities.

After Government hushed up the CAG report by not tabling before Parliament, he approached Supreme Court through noted lawyer Prashant Bhushan. In a recent hearing, Justices HL Dattu and CK Prasad directed Solicitor General Rohinton Nariman to submit the controversial CAG report on March 19 in a sealed cover. Several legal experts point out that non-tabling of CAG report before Parliament and presenting it in a sealed cover before court may invite breach of privilege by Parliamentarians.

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Centre submits action taken report on NTRO scam to SC

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Centre submits action taken report on NTRO scam to SC

TNN Mar 20, 2012, 02.41AM IST

NEW DELHI: The Union government on Monday submitted in sealed cover to the Supreme Court an action taken report (ATR) on the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) findings about alleged irregularities in purchase of intelligence equipment by the National Technical Research Organization (NTRO).

Additional solicitor general Harin Raval submitted the ATR. Adjourning the matter to April 9, a bench of Justices H L Dattu and C K Prasad said, “If we are convinced (after perusing the report) there is some positive steps taken, we will not go ahead with hearing of the case. But if we feel it is merely eyewash, we will then call upon those responsible.”

PIL petitioner V K Mittal had alleged that a major portion of the Rs 450-crore NTRO scam pertained to purchase of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from an Israeli firm allegedly at a very high price without the mandatory approval of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS).

NTRO, which was set up in 2004 and functions under the Prime Minister’s Office, has been entrusted with the task of missile monitoring, satellite and airborne imagery, cyber patrolling and security, cyber offensive operations and communication support systems, including cryptology.

It was on the complaint of Mittal, a former joint director who had also served in NTRO, that the PMO had ordered a probe into the scam. Later, the CAG was asked to look into the organization’s accounts. The government had alleged that Mittal wanted to head the NTRO and filed the PIL when he did not succeed.

Mittal’s petition stated that the independent body answerable only to the national security adviser was allotted about Rs 8,000 crore since 2005, but no book of accounts were maintained for the expenses.

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Serious lapses in NTRO equipment buying: CAG

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Serious lapses in NTRO equipment buying: CAG

by Danish Raza Mar 12, 2012 First Post

New Delhi: While the Comptroller and Auditor General’s  (CAG) special audit report of National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO)remains a top secret, the auditing authority has officially admitted it found serious lapses in recruitment of regular employees and procurement of equipment by NTRO.

“We have noticed cases of appointment of ineligible candidates and lack of transparency in recruitment of regular employees in NTRO,” the office of the Directorate General of Audit (central expenditure), an arm of CAG, said in response to RTI application filed by V.K. Mittal

The findings of NTRO audit have not been made public.The report has not been placed before the Parliament. The agency is a highly specialised technical intelligence gathering agency.

Responding to a query on the types of irregularities which were detected in procurement of systems/ equipment, the auditing body said, “We have noticed lack of transparency and non- compliance of rules in procurement of systems/ equipment and deficient procurement management resulting in cases of excess payment/ wasteful expenditure to exchequer.”

According to the RTI reply dated February 29, 2012, a copy of which is with Firstpost, CAG has also noticed instances of misuse of official position. CAG has also informed Mittal that neither NTRO nor the National Security Advisor (NSA) has filed any action taken report based on special audit report- a first for any intelligence agency in India.

In other words, NSA received the audit report but took no action based on its findings.

“The fact that the CAG has detected bungling in NTRO but nothing was to curb it, calls for greater accountability in NTRO and other similar bodies,” said Mittal.

The NTRO, created in 2004, is a technical intelligence wing of the government of India. It reports directly to the NSA.

Mittal, a former scientist with NTRO and one of the founding members of the organization, exposed a series of irregularities in the purchase of defence equipment in NTRO. He wrote to the NSA and the Prime Minister’s Office about lack of transparency in procuring of equipment, including unmanned aerial vehicles, by the NTRO.

Last year, Mittal filed a petition in Delhi High Court on the issue. The High Court refused to interfere in the matter directing the CAG to proceed in accordance with law.

Mittal then moved Supreme Court which, in August last year, issued notices to the PMO, Central Vigilance Commission, NTRO and CAG.

In the next hearing on March 19, the government has to submit the auditor’s report in the Supreme Court before the bench of justice H L Dattu and C K Prasad.

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DNA Exclusive: CAG nails NTRO; NSA sits on report

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DNA Exclusive: CAG nails NTRO; NSA sits on report

Published: Monday, Mar 5, 2012, 9:15 IST
By Saikat Datta | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA

An aggressive audit of the country’s premier technical spying agency, the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), by the CAG — the first time an intelligence agency has been audited — has revealed large-scale irregularities, corruption and several instances of official position/s being misused.

The report is unlikely to be made public or even placed before Parliament, but is bound to raise questions on National Security Adviser (NSA) Shiv Shankar Menon’s role as he has not taken any action on the report for months. The NTRO does not come under any ministry and it reports directly to the NSA.

India is one of the few democracies where Parliament has no supervisory control over intelligence agencies. The report comes at a time when there is tremendous churning within the intelligence community with calls for greater accountability and transparency.

The CAG summarised its findings while replying to former NTRO joint secretary VK Mittal’s query under RTI seeking details of the audit. It says the CAG has “noticed cases of appointment of ineligible candidates” confirming fears that the agency has been flouting rules while recruiting senior people.

A source told DNA that this has resulted in people being recruited based on their “connections” rather than merit. In fact, IPS officer Jaijeet Singh (Maharashtra cadre) who joined the NTRO last year is probing such cases. So far, five people — either of the rank of joint secretary or director — are under the scanner. The “illegal recruits” include Commander Manoj Modi from the navy, LtCol Sachin Burman, part of the cyber-espionage team, Pramod Prasad, Ruchichandra Srivastava and HS Dhillon.

The CAG found that contractual appointments of senior officers were not transparent. Financial rules were flouted while recruiting Brigadier Anil Malhotra on contract. Malhotra dealt with counter-intelligence and internal security.

The report also talks of several senior officers “misusing” their positions. Chief among them is MS Vijaraghavan, currently the second-in-command in the NTRO.

The fact that he used a prime property in New Delhi’s posh Hauz Khas enclave as his personal residence — rent bills ran into lakhs — left the organisation embarrassed. The CAG recorded several instances of “misuse of official power”, many being committed by Vijayraghavan. Despite all this, he still holds a sensitive post because the government has chosen to ignore the charges against him.

PV Kumar, the present NTRO chairman, too investigated the mess and sent his report to the NSA, Menon. But he has been sitting on both reports for months. And the picture is unlikely to change because neither report would be tabled in Parliament. The reason: the reports are confidential.

The CAG said in an earlier reply, November 28, 2011, under RTI that neither the NTRO nor the NSA has sent any “action-taken” report. DNA has learnt that the CAG has found at least 143 instances of illegal recruitments. It has also found “non-compliance of rules” in procurement of systems and equipment. This means kickbacks could have been part of the several purchases made by NTRO.

The NTRO was set up after the Kargil war to coordinate all technical intelligence efforts. But the organisation has failed to take off because of nepotism and corruption. Even Union home minister P Chidamabaram refused to include the agency in his daily intelligence briefings. The home ministry recently denied it the status of a notified agency that could legally intercept phones and emails of the people of the country.

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Defence lab wasted money on bridge Army couldn’t use: CAG

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THE INDIAN EXPRESS

Defence lab wasted money on bridge Army couldn’t use: CAG

Pranav Kulkarni : Pune, Sun Dec 25 2011, 02:47 hrs

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has now targeted city-based Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) lab Research and Development Engineers (R&DE). A CAG report has revealed that the non-execution of a project to build a modular bridge by the R&DE resulted in wastage of assets created at a cost of Rs 21.46 crore as the users, in this case, the Army, found the bridge unusable. The report, however, mentions that the DRDO and the Army were aware of the project limitations but no attempt was made by either of them to resolve the matter beforehand.

The report says the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had, in October 2002, sanctioned a project to build a 46-metre single-span bridge of Military Load Class 70 (MLC 70). R&DE was supposed to complete the work by October 2006 at a cost of Rs 24.25 crore. In May 2006, it sought an extension of the Probable Date of Completion (PDC) up to October 2008. In October 2007, the R&DE, against specifications, submitted a trial report to the DRDO headquarters for a 20-metre bridge and MLC 40 standard, which was not acceptable to the Army. Also, the PDC of the project was again extended to December 2009.

During this time, the R&DE developed a 40-metre, MLC 70 bridge, which was usable after trials but was not what the users had specified (46 m). The report said in March 2010, the R&DE closed the project after having spending Rs 21.46 crore and proposed to develop a new project worth Rs 13.25 crore with original specifications, which was to be completed by July 2012.

“Thus instead of adhering to specifications, R&DE, Pune, developed a bridge which was not required by the users. The end result was — after an expenditure of Rs 17.89 crore, excluding the cost of five carrier vehicles being used in next project, the requirements of the user could not be served,” the report says.

“The details of the case, MoD’s reply and the clarification given by the users reveal that both the user and DRDO were aware that the bridge being built was 40 metres and MLC 70. Further, the DRDO had its limitations for construction of the bridge with original specifications. Though both the user and the designer were aware of the limitations of the project, neither of them took the initiative to foreclose the project,” it says.

Manish Bharadwaj, scientist and spokesperson, DRDO said, “We will have to speak to DRDO authorities before commenting.”

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SC asks for a copy of CAG report on NTRO scam

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SC asks for a copy of CAG report on NTRO scam

TNN | Jan 17, 2012, 12.47AM IST

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday asked for a copy of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report pointing out alleged irregularities in the purchase of intelligence equipment byNational Technical Research Organisation(NTRO), which was set up in 2004 to provide critical data relating to threats to the nation.

Solicitor general R F Nariman assured a bench of Justices H L Dattu and C K Prasad that the government had already initiated action against erring officials on the basis of the CAG report but petitioner V K Mittal’s counsel Jayant Bhushan wondered why the Centre was shy of bringing the alleged irregularities into the open by placing the report in Parliament.

The bench asked Nariman to produce the CAG report on NTRO scam in a sealed cover by March 19. This is the second time within a year that the apex court has asked for a CAG report, the first being on the irregularities in the allotment of 2G spectrum and licences during A Raja’s tenure as telecom minister.

Nariman was belligerent in trashing Mittal’s PIL, not only accusing the latter of attempting to serve a personal interest but also alleging that his correspondence with the authorities revealing top secret projects with their location could help countries inimical to India.

Bhushan countered Nariman by alleging that the government was deliberately keeping the matter under wraps in the name of security to shield the culprits. But the bench said, “It is not a case where the government has put the issue in cold storage but promised that it was being looked into. We will not pass an order but request the SG to produce the CAG report in a sealed cover on March 19.”

Mittal had alleged that a major portion of the Rs 450 crore NTRO scam pertained to purchase of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from an Israeli firm allegedly at a very high price without the mandatory approval of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS).

NTRO, which functions under the Prime Minister’s Office, has been entrusted with the task of missile monitoring, satellite and airborne imagery, cyber patrolling and security, cyber offensive operations and communication support systems including cryptology.

It was on the complaint of Mittal, a former joint director in the government of India who had also served in NTRO, that the PMO had ordered a probe into the scam and later, CAG was asked to look into the organisation’s accounts. Nariman alleged that Mittal wanted to head the NTRO and filed the PIL when he did not succeed.

During the last hearing, Bhushan had alleged that Delhi High Court had dismissed Mittal’s writ petition on April 6, 2011 after the Centre filed a probe status report in sealed cover assuring prompt action against the guilty officials. However, no action was taken till date, he claimed.

Mittal’s petition stated that the independent body answerable only to the national security adviser was allotted approximately Rs 8,000 crore since 2005, but there was no accounting of the spending.

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DRDO opposes it but House panel underlines: you need outside audit

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 DRDO opposes it but House panel underlines: you need outside audit

Amitav Ranjan , Shiv Aroor

Posted: Thu Dec 28 2006, 00:00 hrs

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 27:

The Defence Ministry strongly resisted it. The Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister discarded it as unnecessary. But the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence has now categorically rejected both views and recommended that the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) be brought under the audit scrutiny of an “independent and external” panel of experts to make sure that expensive and delayed defence projects don’t remain indefinitely adrift.

The report is scheduled to be tabled in the Budget session of Parliament.

In the report, compiled after detailed testimonies from the military top brass and independent experts over several months, the Standing Committee, chaired by Balasahib Vikhe Patil, has observed, “There is no scientific audit of DRDO projects as such. However, the DRDO has mechanism of feasibility study, design and technology evaluation, project peer review. The Committee observe that inspite of that, a large number of projects are showing inordinate delay and escalation of huge cost. The Committee therefore recommends that in addition to existing audit system, DRDO’s projects must also be audited by external and independent audit group of experts duly approved by the Government of India.”

It goes on to add, “The Committee is of the view that this will facilitate the government to check on the growing cost and time overrun of the DRDO projects and also to ascertain the accountability for the delay in execution of projects.”

In just 12 of the DRDO’s most critical projects — involving systems that the armed forces need more than any other, like missiles, fighters and theatre artillery — the organisation has exceeded sanctioned estimates by Rs 6, 013.43 crore in just the last 10 years, a figure greater than its current annual budget.

This recommendation comes after the Committee conducted a thorough review recently of the country’s most crucial defence programmes, including the integrated guided missile development programme (IGMDP), the Light Combat Aircraft, the Arjun main battle tank, the Kaveri jet engine and concurrent engineering.

On November 16, as part of an investigative series on the DRDO’s delay and mismanagement, The Indian Express had reported on how the Defence Ministry had failed to act on a crucial point raised by the Vijay Kelkar committee, recommending that DRDO’s functioning as a research body needed to be under the purview of a panel of independent experts.

In fact, on the day before the report was published, Comptroller & Auditor General (C&AG) VN Kaul said at a defence economics seminar, “Defence R&D is an area where accountability often takes shelter under the policy of self reliance, and indigenization becomes a reason for delay… accountability of domestic R&D organizations needs to be re-emphasized to enable better assessment of return from investment. Sensitizing of the defence services to the role of public audit is essential.”

This is precisely what the Committee has now called for, virtually thrusting aside DRDO’s own contention that “accountability cannot be fixed for loss of time in projects”.

The Committee has observed, “Keeping in view the disappointing performance of DRDO, the Committee strongly recommends to the government the complete review of the functioning and structure of DRDO… by appointing an independent committee of experts/professionals, on the lines of AEC and ISRO” and said that DRDO “cannot absolve itself” from the responsibility for inordinate delay.

“The delays cause suspicion on the capability of DRDO in the eyes of the users and other nations of the world,” it says in its report.

Following The Indian Express series, Kelkar was called in by the Standing Committee last week to expand on the observation he had made 21 months ago as part of his overall recommendations on reforming defence procurement. For the Committee, this was absolutely against what DRDO itself had said in testimony on January 2: “DRDO has enough audit and reviews of the projects at various stages. It is not considered necessary to introduce additional audit and reviews.”