NEW DELHI: Amid high drama and heated exchanges, the Public Accounts Committee of the Delhi Assembly on Monday adopted the controversial report on privatisation of the power distribution network in the Capital, paving the way for tabling of the report and discussion in the Assembly.

The PAC, headed by Congress MLA S. C. Vats, has severely indicted the Government on the privatisation issue accusing the Core Committee of the State Government of bending all "rules and colluding'' with the business houses to "accrue monetary benefits'' to them.

The report was adopted after a verbal duel between members of the PAC during the meeting. At the outset, former Power Minister Narendra Nath, a strong opponent of the report, questioned the decision to expel two previous members, Ramesh Bidhuri and Kiran Walia, and replace them with Meera Bhardwaj and Vijay Jolly. Dr. Nath said no show-cause notices were issued to the expelled members and no proper procedure was followed, something that was objected to by Dr. Vats.

Mr. Jolly said it was unfortunate that the promise of providing quality power, lower power tariffs and reducing transmission-related losses made while privatising power sector had not materialised so far. The power consumers were being subjected to prolonged power cuts and higher tariffs with the private power companies virtually running monopolies.

Questioning the conduct of Dr. Nath, he said it was surprising that despite being the former Power Minister he was actively taking part in the proceedings -- something that was unethical and made a mockery of morality in public life. Dr. Nath reportedly objected to the remarks by Mr. Jolly and was joined by some other Congress members in the protest.

There were charges and counter-charges and heated exchanges. Soon after, Dr. Vats put the motion for adoption of the report to vote and it was carried through after support from Ms. Bhardwaj and Mr. Jolly along with other BJP members and Dr. Vats himself.

The report contains damaging indictment of the Delhi Government, its Power Department and senior bureaucrats who handled the process of privatisation during 2002.

The PAC reportedly had recommended that the Government approach the Central Bureau of Investigation for an enquiry to ascertain the circumstances that led the members of the Committee to go against the interest of the public exchequer by favouring the conditional bidders.

The report states that the same Core Committee prior to fixing this deal had opined to the Cabinet that bids being conditional in nature might not be accepted in their present form. And by saying that bids may not be accepted in their present form, the members of the Committee wanted to retain the handle with themselves and leave enough scope for them to "manipulate'' things, it added.

In its most damaging part, the PAC stated: "In this background, it is felt that all was not above board and it does not rule out the involvement of one or more members of the Core Committee in favouring the conditional bidders for monetary considerations by accepting conditional bids and effecting major modifications in the transfer scheme, policy directions and contract agreements without the approval of the competent authority."

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