JPC wants undertaking on papers given to it
The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), probing telecom policies including the 2G allocation, will ask Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), finance and three other ministries to give written undertakings that they have submitted all relevant documents to related to the 2G issue to the committee. Saubhadra Chatterji reports.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), probing telecom policies including the 2G allocation, will ask Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), finance and three other ministries to give written undertakings that they have submitted all relevant documents to related to the 2G issue to the committee.
The decision came after a two-hour long ruckus in Tuesday’s JPC meet over the finance ministry's note involving home minister P Chidambaram.
Apart from the PMO and finance, telecom, law and corporate affairs will be asked to furnish undertakings. The finance secretary too, will be called before the panel on October 12 to explain why he didn’t submit the note to the JPC.
When the JPC meeting began, opposition members raised the issue of the finance ministry note and demanded that the pre-scheduled agenda be cancelled. BJP’s Yashwant Sinha and CPI’s Gurudas Dasgupta said normal discussions cannot take place in the wake of the recent developments.
As Congress and other UPA allies entered into an argument and insisted on continuing with the scheduled agenda, the BJP, CPI threatened to boycott it.
CPM’s Sitaram Yechury said when the finance secretary had earlier appeared before the panel, he submitted around 50 documents but the ministry’s letter on Chidamabaram’s role was not there. Yechury argued that if this note had deliberately been kept from the panel, it was breach of privilege.
As tempers soared, JPC chairman PC Chacko had to call for a break. Opposition members said they will not allow the JPC to function if the finance secretary is not summoned.
While former TRAI chief Nripendra Mishra was allowed to depose, no opposition members questioned him.
