Another senior Army officer under scanner over purchases for UN troops

After the Darjeeling land scam case,senior officers in the Army have once again come under the shadow of controversy with...

After the Darjeeling land scam case,senior officers in the Army have once again come under the shadow of controversy with an inquiry being ordered to investigate a scam in procurements of supplies for troops going on UN missions.

The inquiry,which has put a serving Major General under the scanner,was ordered after it came to light that over the past few years the Army shelled out double the amount for personal items of UN troops like shoes as compared to the market price.

One of the cases being investigated is the purchase of two types of boots for UN troops that allegedly caused a loss of Rs 2.82 crore to the exchequer.

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Sources said that the scope of the scam could be much larger,given that the Court of Inquiry (COI) had been mandated to investigate all procurements for UN troops since January 2006. The COI,which is being headed by Signals Officer in Chief Lt Gen P Mohapatra,has been ordered to investigate irregularities in the procurement of items of personal clothing including shoes as part of the Personal Stores Kit item for troops proceeding on UN assignments.

This has put a senior serving officer,Maj Gen G S Narula,under the scanner given that he was responsible for UN purchases as an Additional Director General (ADG) at Army HQ during the period mentioned in the inquiry. The officer is also in consideration for promotion to the top rank of Master General of Ordnance (MGO) at Army HQ.

Because of the seniority of the officer under the scanner,the Armys COI consists of a serving Lt Gen and two Major Generals who will conduct the proceedings at the Delhi HQ area.

Sources said that the inquiry was ordered after a sitting Lok Sabha member,Indian National Congress MP Harsh Vardhan,wrote to Defence Minister A K Antony earlier this year,highlighting a series of irregularities in the procurement of supplies for troops on UN missions.

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In a letter to Antony,a copy of which is with this newspaper,Vardhan said that Maj Gen Narula was involved in financial irregularities and highlighted a case pertaining to the purchase of boots for troops.

The letter said as the ADG ( CN and A) at Army HQ,Maj Gen Narula bought two types of boots Disruptive and Black Formals at double the market price. While the Army paid Rs 1,700 each for the two types of boots,the same were available for half the price in the market. With a total procurement of 32,000 boots,the loss to the Army was Rs 2.82 crore,the letter said.

Various other charges against the officer,including violation of CVC guidelines,filing a false affidavit in court as well as favouring a particular company for purchases,that were mentioned in the letter are also being probed by the Armys COI.