The government has directed the Army to streamline its acquisition process in such a manner so that accountability can be fixed in case of any slippages.

The Defence Minister Mr. A.K. Antony on Monday reviewed various issues and proposals relating to acquisition for the Army on Capital and Revenue Accounts and asked the Defence officials and the Army to examine the possibility of compressing the time taken for technical evaluations and trials.

He favoured delegation of more financial powers to Service headquarters if it can lead to speedier acquisition of equipment, platforms and systems for the Services.

The meeting was attended among others by Chief of Army Staff Gen. V.K. Singh, Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma, DG Acquisition Vivek Rae and the top brass of Indian Army.Another meeting will be held next month to review the progress made on the decisions taken on Monday.

A separate meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council, DAC,was also chaired by the Defence Minister in New Delhi today. The DAC, the apex body of the Defence Ministry, is believed to have discussed procurement proposals relating to the three Services, DRDO and the Coast Guard.

It was attended by the Army Chief as also Navy Chief Admiral Nirmal Verma and Air Force Chief Air Chief Marshal N A K Browne. The DAC also discussed the Long Term Integrated Perspective Plan and changes in the offsets policy under the Defence Procurement Procedure.