'PAC should not hold parallel probe'

As Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament goes ahead briskly with its inquiry into the 2G spectrum scam, Joint Parliamentary Committee chairman PC Chacko feels that the PAC should confine itself to the CAG report and not hold a probe "parallel" to the one headed by him.

As Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament goes ahead briskly with its inquiry into the 2G spectrum scam, Joint Parliamentary Committee chairman PC Chacko feels that the PAC should confine itself to the CAG report and not hold a probe "parallel" to the one headed by him.

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He said PAC's mandate was limited to looking into accounting irregularities in 2G spectrum allocation as highlighted by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and it should not give an impression of holding an inquiry parallel to what 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 PAC is performing a parallel inquiry to that of JPC," Chacko told PTI here.

"The PAC should confine itself to the accounting irregularities pointed out by the CAG," he said.

Chacko's comments came as the PAC, headed by BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, had called for deposition a journalist who wrote on 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 BJP's other nominees are Anant Kumar Hegde and Shripad Naik from the Lok Sabha and Prakash Javdekar from the Rajya Sabha.

The BJP's quota in the panel, which has 22 members, is six.

"We went for these nominations with a clear idea that Dr. Joshi would be chairing the committee," said a senior BJP leader.