PC Chacko, the chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the 2G spectrum scam, may be trying hard to portray a bipartisan picture of the panel’s proceedings, but its obvious digging into the NDA government’s record in granting telecom licences saw former finance minister Yashwant Sinha offer to depose as a witness before the committee.
Chacko confirmed that Sinha had offered to do so. ?Sinha was finance minister and headed a group of ministers on a matter dealing with telecom licences in the NDA period and he said that if the committee members so desired he would depose before it,? said Chacko. Sinha is a member of the JPC and was a member of the controversial Public Accounts Committee (PAC) as well. Chacko did not confirm whether the JPC would let Sinha to depose before it.
Not just Sinha, another former finance minister of the NDA regime and a JPC member Jaswant Singh too had to brief the committee on Thursday as the question of the 10th Five Year Plan, with regard to teledensity was taken up. ?The 10th Plan clearly stated that teledensity was an infrastrutcure requirement and therefore revenue considerations should not be the main criterion for granting licences,? said Chacko. Singh had to explain his government’s position on the matter.
The JPC has also summoned all Cabinet papers, files and notings on Universal Access Service Licence agreements. The defense ministry’s release of spectrum has also been called into question all relevant papers asked for by the JPC. ?We want to know what are the procedures being followed and whether the release of specrum by defense which happened in 2010 was unavoidable,? said Chacko.
The JPC chief also outlined the timetable for the next month or so saying that departmental briefings would be done by June 8-9 and that wintesses would start deposing before the committee from June 29th (see box).