A huge question mark continues to hang over whether or not the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament will be coming out with an interim report on the 2G allocation scam. In a three-hour meeting of the panel on Thursday, its members tried to persuade chairman Murli Manohar Joshi to cede ground to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the issue. Joshi remained non-committal, but sources say that he is determined to come out with a report before the Monsoon Session.
Cabinet secretary KM Chandrashekhar and principal secretary to the Prime Minister T K A Nair have sent written replies to the PAC. Their deposition was cancelled after the committee split into two over the question of continuing the 2G probe.
Another meeting, before April 30th (the official date on which this committee ceases to exist) will be held for Joshi to put forward his views on whether or not he will stand his ground on submitting a report on th matter, in the face of opposition from Congress and DMK members in the committee.
Top sources in the committee said that those opposed to a report on the matter put forth three kinds of arguments for the PAC to hand over the 2G investigation to the JPC. ?The first was the legal argument that many of the witnesses could not depose fully because the matter is sub judice, that would compromise the investigation. Then parliamentary precedents were quoted on how in the Harshad Mehta case, the PAC had not submitted a report, instead a JPC had investigated the matter. Thirdly, while ministries and officials, as well as corporate honchos and even media professionals had been summoned and heard, the political aspect of the scam, in the form of former telecom minister A Raja had not been cross examined,? said the source.
?Joshi heard out members, and the atmosphere was less acrimonious than the last meeting. However, he was clear that in the Harshad Mehta case, the question of a ?loss to the exchequer? was not considered, while in this case there is a clear loss,? he said.
Joshi is expected to cite Speaker Meira Kumar?s letter, which she had written in response to JPC chairman P C Chacko?s appeal to her asking Joshi?s PAC to stop the 2G probe. In that letter, Kumar had urged both committees to ?work together.? Since the Speaker has not prevented the PAC from going ahead with a report, Joshi may well go ahead. ?In fact, long time ago, when Buta Singh was chairman of the PAC, he submitted a report without a single other members signature on the report,? said a top source.