By IANS,
New Delhi : The V.K. Shunglu committee, which probed alleged irregularities in the preparations for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, has lambasted the role of the Group of Ministers (GoM) set up by the government to coordinate the megga-event.
The sixth report submitted by the Shunglu committee Friday went into the role of the GoM, pointing out that it was set up “first to coordinate, second to decide and third to ensure the delivery of the Games”.
Exploring the question whether GoM was effective, the committee said that for fourteen months from April 2008 to July 2009, it was unable to meet due to the indifferent health of the high-level group’s chairman, Arjun Singh, who was minister of human resources development.
“Crucial decisions, that is, membership of Organizing Committee, were taken by Chairman (Suresh Kalmadi) instead of GOM. Even after it was empowered (June, 2009), it was faced with issues which did not belong to it,” said the report.
It said that perusal of GOM deliberations and decisions showed that “subjects which individual ministries/Minister chose to bring before the GOM were discussed rather than those which ought to have been discussed if any oversight role had to be discharged by GOM”.
“Thus, even if an oversight role was contemplated for GOM, in practice it was unable to assert that role,” the report stated.