Panel rejects oral reply on CWG, sends UD secy away

Union urban development secretary Sudhir Krishna had to face a major embarrassment on Friday when a Parliament panel didn’t allow him to speak before it.

Union urban development secretary Sudhir Krishna had to face a major embarrassment on Friday when a Parliament panel didn’t allow him to speak before it.

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Krishna was denied a chance to give verbal explanations before the Public Accounts Committee as he failed to provide written replies to the panel’s queries on CWG scam.

According to sources, Krishna apologised before the Murali Manohar Joshi-led PAC but cutting across party lines, members like BJD’s Bhartruhari Mahtab, Sandip Dikshit and JD Seelam from Congress felt he should not be allowed to speak.

Joshi finally gave him a fresh deadline of seven days to reply and said after the panel receives his written communication, the PAC will decide if he should be allowed to speak before it or not.

On July 6, Krishna — otherwise known as an efficient bureaucrat — was sent a set of 46 questions to be replied by July 26.

“Neither he sent the written answers, nor did he even told the panel verbally why he failed to adhere to the deadline,” a panel member said.

On Thursday, Krishna sought time till the end of this month to send his replies. But he was told reply within seven days.