New Delhi:
A turf war of sorts has broken out even as the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), constituted to look into the 2G spectrum scam, today held its first meeting.
Chairman of the JPC, PC Chacko, today said that two committees should not undertake a parallel probe into the same issue. He was talking about the Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC) headed by senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi. Mr Chacko said that the PAC was not mandated to look into policy issues involving the awarding of spectrum to various telecom players. The committee, according to him, was only supposed to look into waste of public money.
"Before the JPC, the PAC was looking into the matter. Now, two committees of Parliament are looking into the same issue. This has to be avoided, so I will speak to the Speaker", Mr Chacko said.
But Murli Manohar Joshi was unfazed. He contended that there were bound to be overlaps, given the nature and scope of the probe.
"There can be so many overlaps. The JPC may or may not be there....The PAC is a perpetual body", said Mr Joshi.
The PAC has been meeting with officials from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) who are investigating the criminal aspect of the scam, as well as bureaucrats. Technically, Mr Joshi's panel is meant to base its work on the report by the government's auditor which was tabled in Parliament in November. Its volcanic disruptions included putting a price tag of 1.76 lakh crores on the 2G scam and blaming A Raja for giving away valuable spectrum at throwaway prices in 2008 when he was Telecom Minister.
Interestingly, all members of the JPC, even those from the BJP, agree that the committee should probe the wider issues while the PAC should stick to its brief - probing the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on the 2G spectrum allocation.
But, there are other areas of conflict as well.
There is the issue of conflict of interest within the JPC itself.
The JPC is probing policy decisions from 1998 to 2008. This covers a probe involving several important leaders both from the NDA and the UPA. They include:
Mr Chacko said that these issues too would be taken up with the Speaker.
Chairman of the JPC, PC Chacko, today said that two committees should not undertake a parallel probe into the same issue. He was talking about the Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC) headed by senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi. Mr Chacko said that the PAC was not mandated to look into policy issues involving the awarding of spectrum to various telecom players. The committee, according to him, was only supposed to look into waste of public money.
"Before the JPC, the PAC was looking into the matter. Now, two committees of Parliament are looking into the same issue. This has to be avoided, so I will speak to the Speaker", Mr Chacko said.
But Murli Manohar Joshi was unfazed. He contended that there were bound to be overlaps, given the nature and scope of the probe.
"There can be so many overlaps. The JPC may or may not be there....The PAC is a perpetual body", said Mr Joshi.
The PAC has been meeting with officials from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) who are investigating the criminal aspect of the scam, as well as bureaucrats. Technically, Mr Joshi's panel is meant to base its work on the report by the government's auditor which was tabled in Parliament in November. Its volcanic disruptions included putting a price tag of 1.76 lakh crores on the 2G scam and blaming A Raja for giving away valuable spectrum at throwaway prices in 2008 when he was Telecom Minister.
Interestingly, all members of the JPC, even those from the BJP, agree that the committee should probe the wider issues while the PAC should stick to its brief - probing the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on the 2G spectrum allocation.
But, there are other areas of conflict as well.
There is the issue of conflict of interest within the JPC itself.
The JPC is probing policy decisions from 1998 to 2008. This covers a probe involving several important leaders both from the NDA and the UPA. They include:
- Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha and Ravi Shankar Prasad who were part of the NDA's telecom policy-making team
- DMK's T R Baalu, AIADMK's Thambidurai, JD(U)'s Sharad Yadav and BJP's Hiren Pathak who were ministers in the NDA government
- Congress' Manish Tiwari who had represented the telecom companies as a lawyer
Mr Chacko said that these issues too would be taken up with the Speaker.
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