Even as Oppn insists on JPC, Joshi pushes inquiry by PAC

At a time when the main Opposition party BJP is adamant on its demand for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to probe the 2G spectrum scam, party member Murli Manohar Joshi, who is the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), on Monday not only held yet another meeting of the committee but also said it would be open to taking the probe back to 2001 when the BJP-led NDA was in power.

?We are open to taking the probe to 2001. The reason why the CAG looked at the 2003-2010 period was because of a Trai order,? Joshi said, adding that he had received a letter from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh offering to appear before the PAC, and an ?appropriate decision will be taken at an appropriate time?.

Joshi?s statement is significant since the Supreme Court has also ordered the CBI to investigate licence/spectrum allocation since 2001 and a one-member committee appointed by the telecom minister is also doing the same.

So far, the Opposition has been united in its demand for a JPC probe in the matter, and had in fact rejected the government?s contention that a PAC inquiry was just as good as the JPC. BJP leader Arun Jaitley had said the PAC was only empowered to look into auditing issues while how policy was slanted to benefit certain parties could only be undertaken by a JPC.

Joshi has, however, been quite firm in pursuing the PAC?s inquiry, and on Monday, even heard the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, Vinod Rai, on the matter. It was the CAG report which pegged the loss to the exchequer at Rs 1.76 lakh crore on the higher side that finally made A Raja resign from the Cabinet as telecom minister.

Joshi?s stand has been quite at variance with his party and other members of the Opposition who are of the view that the PAC should go slow with its work to give strength to the Opposition?s demand for a JPC. ?It is a fallacy that I have been expeditious in pursuing this matter vis-a-vis others; the decision to look at 2G spectrum was taken by my predecessor Gopinath Munde in January 2010. When I took over in June 2010, we decided to pursue the matter. Out of the 27 meetings of the PAC held this year, only 8 have pertained to the 2G spectrum scam,? he said.

Meanwhile, PAC members sought to understand from the CAG, as to how it had arrived at the figure of Rs 1.76 lakh crore. CAG?s Monday deposition before PAC was the longest ever since its inception. ?The CAG said three kinds of financial modelling had been used to arrive at these figures, with the lower limit of loss pegged at Rs 57,666 crore and a middle range spanning between Rs 66,300 crore and Rs 76,670 crore,? Joshi said.

The revenue from auction of 3G spectrum led to the highest range of Rs 1.76 lakh crore.

The CAG?s briefing to the PAC members on Monday is part of its duty wherein it assists the committee. According to Parliamentary procedure, the CAG is ?an adjunct? of the PAC, which means the CAG is a supplementary part of the PAC to assist its functioning. The CAG attends all the meetings of the PAC and the audit reports of CAG stands automatically referred to PAC once they are tabled in the Parliament. When official witnesses are being examined by the PAC, the CAG sits on the right of the PAC chairman and assists him on the evidence being taken. Any assistance given to the PAC is with reference to the findings in the audit report. As per section 23 of the CAG Act, the government auditor decides on the scope and extent of the audit, and cannot be questioned. Even when a government ministry requests CAG to audit a scheme or a programme, it is the CAG that decides the scope and extent of the audit.