2G scam: RBI Governor D Subbarao to depose before parliamentary panel, BJP to attend meeting

New Delhi: Nearly a month after storming out of the meeting of Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on 2G scam, members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are set to attend its deliberations tomorrow where Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor D Subbarao will appear as a witness in his role as former Finance Secretary.

BJP members said they would again press for finalising the list of witness and calling Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and former Telecom Ministers A Raja and Dayanidhi Maran before the JPC.

Accusing Congress members of using "foul language", five of the six members had walked out of JPC proceedings on August 22. A war of words had broken out between BJP and Congress members over calling of the Prime Minister and Mr Chidambaram as witnesses.

Since then, JPC has not met though its chief PC Chacko had decided to start calling "essential witnesses" even if BJP kept away from the proceedings.

The appearance of Mr Subbarao, who was Finance Secretary between April 2007 and September 2008, is significant as he had questioned the Department of Telecom (DoT) on the issue of entry fee.

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In his November 22, 2007 letter, Mr Subbarao had asked the DoT to justify how it was taking entry fee of only Rs 1,650 crore from operators in 2007 as the amount was fixed in 2001.

Replying to Mr Subbarao, the DoT had, in its November 29, 2007 letter, said the entry fee was finalised for the Unified Access Regime in 2003 based on the decision of the Union Cabinet.

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When Mr Subbarao had appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which was then examining the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the 2G issue in February 2011, he had said there was no further communication between the Finance Ministry and the DoT on the issue.

Mr Subbarao could also be asked questions on a July 4, 2008 note on spectrum pricing in which he had said that "it is legally and administratively tenable to impose a two-part tariff for spectrum: a fixed, one-time "upfront" spectrum price for allowing allottees to use a public resource for private profit and a recurring spectrum usage charge whereby the government shares the profits accruing to the operator.