(a) Whether his Ministry had leased a Chancery premises in Houston in December, 1995 in excess of space prescribed for the purpose for a period of ten years ;
(b) Whether his Ministry has incurred a loss of about three crores by this deal;
(c) If so, the details therefor;
(d) Whether any responsibility has since been fixed in this regard ; and
(e) If so, the details thereof?
THE MINISTER OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS (SHRI JASWANT SINGH)
(a) to (e) The Chancery premises of the Consulate General of India, Houston, consisting of 11,353 sq.ft. was leased with effect from December 1995. In November 2000, Director of Audit, Indian Accounts, Embassy of India, Washington, intimated that the Post had leased an area of 4052 sq.ft. in excess of the prescribed space norms. The Audit authorities, while asking for the views of the Ministry on this issue, proposed to include the draft para in the Annual general Report of CAG of India. The Post has responded that premises was rented by them on functional grounds within the rental ceiling prescribed by the Ministry while keeping in view any future expansion and local requirements. In the meanwhile, the relevant para on this issue has been included in the Annual Report of the CAG of India for the year ending 31st March 2000 - No. 2 of 2001.