Sujata to snub PAC summons

KATHMANDU, March 15: Minister for Foreign Affairs Sujata Koirala on Sunday said she would not present herself before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to give clarification for her remarks that the committee was a “bunch of undemocratic persons”.



The PAC on Friday had decided to summon Koirala on March 21.[break]

 

Talking to journalists after Sunday’s cabinet meeting, Minister Koirala said she would not go to the committee to furnish clarification. “I still don’t know that I have been summoned for clarification,” she said. “I have busy schedule that day.”



Last week, the minister during a press conference upon her arrival at Tribhuvan International Airport from Geneva had termed the committee as a “bunch of undemocratic persons” alleging that the committee issued wrong directives to her ministry in connection with the tender for printing machine-readable passports (MRP). She has been insisting that MRP should be printed in India to meet the April 1 deadline set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).



Koirala said she would not need to go to the committee again as Foreign Secretary Dr Madan Bhattarai has already briefed the committee members about the need to print MRPs that must be distributed from April 1.



The committee on Friday reiterated that its previous directive to the ministry to select one of the four pre-qualified firms to print MRPs would only be a valid procedure as per the law.



The committee on February 25 had directed the ministry to follow the bidding procedures instead of directly awarding the printing contract to India. Writing to the parliamentary committee on March 3, the ministry had asked the committee to review the decision stating it was not practically possible to implement the decision.

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