Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s refusal to appear before the joint parliamentary committee (JPC) looking into the 2G spectrum allocation scam may have robbed the panel of the last bit of sanctity.
The 30-member JPC, consisting of veteran parliamentarians, will not get the chance to quiz key decision makers — the PM, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, and the then Telecom Minister A Raja — over how the Government let airwaves be given away at throwaway prices in 2008.
While PC Chacko, the panel’s chairman, had all along refused to entertain any plea to summon the PM and the FM, there were hopes that Manmohan Singh may volunteer to appear before the committee. The PM had told a Congress conclave at Burari back in 2010 that he would be ready to appear before another similar committee, the Public Accounts Committee.
However, on Wednesday, Singh rejected BJP leader Yashwant Sinha’s demand to appear before the JPC and said that all pertinent records and documents available with the Government have already been placed at the disposal of the panel.
“You are aware that all pertinent records and documents available with the Government have already been placed at the disposal of the JPC. I have said from the beginning that neither the Government nor I have anything to hide in this matter. The decision as to what evidence should be sought and which individuals should be asked to appear before the JPC is a matter that needs to be decided internally by the JPC and its chairman,” the PM said while replying to a letter Sinha wrote two days back.
If PM’s argument that deposition was unneeded since all documents were made available to the panel is to hold water, many others who were hauled up should have also enjoyed similar privilege.
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PM’s refusal keeps lid on 2G scam
The panel had not spared even the 83-year-old former TRAI chairman Justice SS Sodhi.
Also, several committee members feel that Raja must get a fair chance to answer the charges against him, especially the charge of ‘forgery’ levelled by then Solicitor-General Goolam E Vahanvati. If Raja is not cross-examined by the members, the whole truth will never come out, a member said.
Responding to the PM’s statement, the BJP said that if Singh had nothing to hide and since he had earlier been ready to depose before the PAC, he should not shy away from the panel. “The Prime Minister had earlier written to PAC chairperson Murli Manohar Joshi stating that he was ready to appear before the panel... If there is nothing fishy and he has nothing to hide in the 2G spectrum case, then the PM should appear before the JPC,” BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain told reporters.
The party wondered why Singh was avoiding the JPC since he has often spoken on crucial issues inside Parliament.
“All those who were called earlier by the JPC could instead have e-mailed their statements. JPC is not an agency for collecting papers,” Hussain remarked over the PM’s reason to refuse appearing before the JPC. The BJP spokesperson alleged that the Congress was politicising the JPC as Chacko had “diminished its importance through his statements”. “Just because the JPC is headed by a Congress MP does not mean it is a Congress Committee... Chacko should not bulldoze the JPC,” Hussain said.
Chacko ruled out the possibility of summoning the PM, Chidambaram and Raja on the grounds that since the draft report is already under preparation, the stage of calling fresh witnesses has passed.
“There is no question of calling the Prime Minister or any Minister just like that. We cannot call people merely because of somebody made a statement,” Chacko asserted.
He questioned how individual members of the JPC could make such suggestions and said that due process had to be followed on summoning Ministers for deposition.
For calling a Minister, the JPC has to take a majority decision and send its request to the lok Sabha Speaker for approval, he pointed out. “Why in 56 meetings of the JPC did nobody ask for calling the Prime Minister or any MinisterIJ” he asked.
He said that at the last meeting, the JPC unanimously authorised him to prepare the draft report and the panel’s next meeting would only be for discussions on that report. He added that if members differed from the aspects of the report, they can give their dissent notes.
Chacko even tried to exonerate the PM from blame for not appearing before the JPC by saying: “The PM cannot walk into any committee, as the JPC will have to decide and call him. If the JPC is not calling the PM, what can the Prime Minister doIJ”
He also justified the decision to not call Raja despite him repeatedly requesting an audience with the panel. Chacko said that if Raja was allowed then all Telecom Ministers between 1998 and 2009 would have to be examined as witnesses.