PAC grills Defence Ministry over pay delays, unlicensed X-ray machines
The Public Accounts Committee has questioned the Ministry of Defence over significant delays in pay disbursement and the use of unlicensed X-ray machines in military hospitals. The audit also highlighted structural safety issues in aging military hospital buildings.
Why it matters
It exposes systemic administrative and safety failures within the defense infrastructure that directly impact personnel welfare.
Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), headed by senior Congress leader K.C. Venugopal, questioned the Ministry of Defence on Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report that pointed to persistent delays in pay disbursement for junior commissioned officers.
The CAG examined the functioning of Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (Officers) and 46 Pay and Accounts Offices, which manage pay and allowances worth ₹3,09,975.07 crore between 2020-21 and 2022-23. The audit found that on an average it takes 68 to 80 days to process the pay. Over six lakh orders were rejected manually without recorded reasons, and 50,646 personnel were denied the Risk and Hardship Allowance because rejected orders went untracked. A special drive cleared 13.48 lakh pending orders but 5.94 lakh remain unresolved.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in