JPC chief feels Joshi's PAC doing parallel probe

With the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament on a questioning spree in 2G spectrum scam case, it has not gone down well with Joint Parliamentary Committee chairman PC Chacko who feels that the PAC has gone beyond its mandate, and wants a 'conflict' to be avoided. Chacko underlined that the PAC's mandate was limited to looking into accounting irregularities in the 2G spectrum allocation as highlighted by the comptroller and auditor general, and it should not give an impression of holding a 'parallel inquiry' to what the JPC is supposed to do.

"The very purpose of forming the JPC is to look into the broader question about 2G and telecom. It appears from media reports that it is performing a parallel inquiry to that of JPC," said Chacko. "The PAC should confine to the accounting irregularities pointed out by the CAG."

Chacko's comments came as the PAC, headed by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi, has been calling for the deposition of journalists who wrote on the 2G spectrum scam, and editors of magazines which published the transcripts of telephonic conversations of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia with industrialists, journalists and politicians.

The PAC is also set to call for examining Radia, as well as senior journalists who feature in the tapes.

"Conflict should be avoided as far as possible. We will discuss it in the JPC," said Chacko.

The 30-member JPC, which will have its first meeting on March 24, would be examining the work done by the PAC which has been examining the 2G issue for over a year. The JPC will examine the telecom policy in place from 1998 to 2008, its implementation, pricing of the spectrum and issuance of licences.

The aim is to ascertain if there were any problems in the system and its implementation and recommend actions accordingly. In this connection, the committee intends to seek all relevant documents from the ministries concerned and communications between various departments.

The formation of the JPC last month brought down the curtains on a three-month deadlock in Parliament between the government and the opposition, which latched on to a CAG report on alleged irregularities in 2G spectrum allocations and pegged the presumptive loss to the national exchequer at Rs 1.76 lakh crore.