2G row reaches JPC; top Finance Ministry officials summoned

New Delhi, Sep 27 (PTI) The row over the 2G note Tuesday
resonated in the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) meeting
with members alleging that facts were being suppressed,
prompting the Committee to summon two top Indian Finance
Ministry officials besides demanding affidavits from
government that all relevant documents have been given.
The meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee,
looking into 2G scam, was stormy as soon as it began with
members questioning the non-submission of the March 25 note of
the Finance Ministry which suggested that Chidambaram as
Finance Minister in 2008 should have insisted on auctioning of
2G spectrum to prevent the scam.
The matter was raised by Left members Gurudas Dasgupta
and Sitaram Yechury with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members
following suit in demanding a discussion on the "new
developments".
Congress members initially opposed it but came around
later, sources claimed.
"The Committee expressed displeasure on the failure on
part of the Department of Economic Affairs to submit the note
dated March 25, 2011," JPC Chairman P C Chacko said here.
He said Finance Secretary R S Gujral and Secretary,
Department of Economic Affairs R Gopalan have been asked to
appear before the Committee on October 12 to explain why the
note was not made available to the panel.
In a rare move, the Committee also decided to write to
the Department of Telecom, Cabinet Secretariat, Ministries of
Finance, Law and Corporate Affairs, the Planning Commission as
well as the Prime Minister's Office to provide with "all
relevant information" available with them pertaining to the 2G
issue and submit affidavits in this regard.
"We have found that an important document was not
available to the Committee. In the future we do not want a
repeat of this to happen," Chacko said.
"They (departments and ministries) have been asked to
furnish an affidavit as we do not want any department to hold
back information," Chacko said.
He insisted that the Committee was well within its
rights to seek an affidavit from the government.
"Every Committee can make its own rules... We are setting
a healthy precedent for other Committees to follow... We do
not want to grope in darkness," the JPC chief said to a volley
of questions on the legality of the move.
"We have taken a decision because we feel that a
Parliamentary Committee is competent to ask for an affidavit,"
he said.
Asked whether the move could be challenged in court,
Chacko said usually the proceedings of Parliamentary
Committees are not questioned in Court. "But if it is, we will
face the music," he quipped.
Though the controversial note is a recent document, it
pertains to the period (2008) being examined by the JPC as per
its terms of reference, Chacko said.
The JPC is looking into matters relating to allocation
and pricing of telecom licences and spectrum between 1998 and
2009.
At Tuesday's meeting, Yechury (CPM) is understood to have
said that the non-submission of the note by the Finance
Ministry to the Committee as a "serious act", if committed
inadvertently.
He said it would be "breach of privilege" if the note had
been withheld deliberately by the Finance Ministry when it was
asked by the JPC to submit to it all the documents related to
the 2G spectrum allocation.
CPI member Gurudas Dasgupta is understood to have raised
the issue of the 2G note even before the meeting formally
began and insisted that no other issue should be taken up till
the "new developments" were dealt with by the Committee.
Some Congress members were learnt to have protested
Dasgupta's suggestions but came around later.
Interestingly, when former Telecom Secretary Nripendra
Mishra appeared before the Committee, only Congress members
asked questions to him while others from BJP as well as Left
parties remained silent.
S S Ahluwalia of the BJP demanded that the meeting be
adjourned till the Finance Secretary appeared before the
Committee to explain the position.
Ahluwalia expressed suprise that the Economic Affairs
Secretary had remained silent on the 2G note when he had
appeared before the Committee on July 8.
After a three-hour debate on the matter, the JPC
called Nripendra Mishra, who was Telecom Secretary between
February 2004 and March 2005, for recording of evidence but
soon adjourned for the day.
It was also decided to cancel the sitting tomorrow when
former Telecom Secretary Brijesh Kumar was to appear for
recording of evidence and the CBI was to update the JPC on the
progress in investigation into the 2G case.