CAG Report is Clearly Disputable, Flawed: PM

New Delhi: Declaring that allegations of impropriety in coal block allocations were baseless and unsupported by facts, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday said the official auditor's report was "clearly disputable" and "flawed" because of its assumptions and computations.

Making a statement in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) report that irregularities in coal block allocation resulted in presumptive losses of 1.86 lakh crore ($37 billion), Manmohan Singh defended himself and his government.

"I want to assure the members that as the minister in charge, I take full responsibility for the decisions of the ministry. I wish to say that any allegations of impropriety are without basis and unsupported by the facts," he said.

He sought to read out his statement on the floor of both houses -- when they reassembled at noon after being adjourned as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) kept up its demand for his resignation -- but was shouted down. Finally, he laid the statement on the table.

"The facts speak for themselves and show that the CAG's findings are flawed on multiple counts," Manmohan Singh said, tracking the history of successive governments' policies on coal blocks allocations since 1993.

The CAG had earlier this month said in its report that lack of transparency in the allocation of coal blocks to private players resulted in a loss of a whopping 1.86 lakh crore ($37 billion) to the exchequer as on March 11 last year.

The prime minister noted that the CAG report was critical of the allocations mainly on three counts.