RM appoints panel to accelerate defence capital acquisition

To expedite the capital acquisition for Indian armed forces, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 7, constituted a 13-member advisory body to undertake independent review and status check of critical projects. The Raksha Mantri's Advisory Committee on Ministry of Defence (MoD) Capital Projects (RMCOMP), comprised of experts from military, bureaucracy and industry, will give its first report by March 31, ministry said in a statement.

RMCOMP will review "ongoing critical capital projects above 500 crore including 'Mission Mode' projects, 'Make' projects, 'Buy (Indian), 'Buy (Indian – IDDM), 'Buy and Make' and 'Buy and Make (Indian)' projects as well as 'Design and Development' projects under the Ministry." It will also assess the physical and financial progress of these projects.

Under the chairmanship of Vinay Sheel Oberoi, Former Secretary, Government of India, it will "identify specific bottlenecks and concerns that are responsible for delays, wherever applicable and suggest the way forward." The committee's tenure is till the end of August 2018.

Based on the decision on the initial status report, the committee will submit two follow-up corrective Action Taken Reports by April 30 and July 31, respectively.

RMCOMP is also expected to suggest measures to reduce delays and improve the capital acquisition process. The committee will also interact with defence public sector, development agencies, the three services and the ministry.

The panel includes former Chairman HAL R.K. Tyagi, Sanhita Kar, IDAS (Retd), Former PCDA, Factories Accounts, R.K. Jain, Former Member, OFB, R. Anand, Special Advisor E&Y LLP, M.H. Rehman, Former DG (TM & HR)/DRDO, Rear Admiral Sudhir Pillai (Retd), Former FONA, Maj Gen R.K. Saiwal (Retd), Former ADG (C&A)/MGO branch, AVM G Raveendranath (Retd), Former TM (Air), ACIDS (PP&FS), HQ IDS, Representative of department of Defence Production (JS Rank or Above), Amber Dubey, Partner Head, Aerospace & Defence, KPMG and Brig/Col Equivalent from HQ IDS – Member Secretary.