Thrissur (Ker), Apr 4: P C Chacko, chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probing 2G scam, today said it would be “desirable” for Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) headed by BJP leader Murali Manohar Joshi to withdraw suo motu from the spectrum investigation.
The Opposition had unanimously demanded the formation of the JPC arguing that PAC enquiry would not be effective in unearthing all the details.
The Opposition disrupted an entire session of Parliament pressing for the constitution of the JPC to look into the matter even when the PAC investigations were going on, he said.
“If the PAC withdrew from the probe on its own, it would help avoid duplication of looking into the same subject by two panels”, he said.
He said enquiry by two agencies into the same subject would also amount to violation of parliamentary rules and procedures.
Chacko said the JPC probe on 2G spectrum allocation scam with specific terms of reference was unanimously endorsed by the Parliament and a parallel probe into the same subject was to be avoided.
The dominant view among JPC members was that PAC's domain was limited to look into the reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General but the latter had transgressed its limit by looking into issues of ‘telecom licence policy', Chacko said.
On the continuance of former BJP ministers in the JPC, Chacko said he had communicated his views on this question to the Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar. It was within the powers of the Speaker to take a decision in this matter and that would be final, he said.
If former ministers like Jaswant Singh and Yashwant Sinha were allowed to continue, he would be compelled to ask them to keep off the meeting when issues concerning their tenure comes up for discussions, he said. PTI
