Taking the much talked about audit report pertaining to the ministry of defence and the controversy so generated by its horns, Defence Research and Development Organisation has questioned the leakage of its contents. DRDO spokesman Ravi Kumar Gupta said that not only the manner in which the audit has been conducted but even the manner in which sensitive information pertaining to India’s defence research programme has been leaked out, is unfortunate.
Maintaining that the report was vitiated by a faulty audit process which did not follow procedures, the DRDO spokesman said that it is yet to be established how confidential documents pertaining to the MoD reached the public domain in total violation of orders on handling of such documents. “However, response to the audit authorities by DRDO is being similarly rendered under confidential classification only,” said he.
“The issues raised are merely preliminary observations which, in violation of laid down audit procedure, were not discussed with executive authorities during formal entry and exit meetings before compilation of the audit report. Neither were these preliminary observations formally issued nor any replies sought from DRDO prior to compilation of any report,” Mr Gupta said. Mr Gupta said that these observations, apparently based on individual perceptions and hasty presumptions rather than facts, are a curious mix of fact and fiction.
The 14-point statement of DRDO says, “The perverse campaign has been launched at a juncture when DRDO is making rapid strides into high-end defence technologies and indigenously churning out one after another, contemporary weapon systems and equipment, sharply reducing the dependence on imports, helping India to raise the level of indigenous content in meeting its defence requirements to around 60 per cent while the figures are rising steadily. Thus, anyone can guess who will be the beneficiary and who is going to lose.”