Dr Murali Manohar Joshi, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, has said that the constitution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the 2G spectrum scam would in no way hamper the job of the PAC that is investigating the massive scam right now.He was reacting to the statement made by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee that once the JPC was announced, the ongoing probe by PAC will amount to duplication of work.
Senior Congress member P C Chacko was on Friday made the chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the 2G spectrum issue, setting in motion the probe into what the opposition is alleging as the biggest scam in independent India.
The credibility of the examination system has also come under question, they said.
According to the current plan in Congress party quarters to end the stand-off on a parliamentary probe into the telecom scam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to make a statement in Parliament on Tuesday, a day after it convenes, asking the Speaker to form a Joint Parliamentary Committee on the subject.By the rules, Speaker Meira Kumar will authorise this. A JPC generally has two-thirds of its members from the Lok Sabha and the rest from the Rajya Sabha.
Sources in the JPC said that panel Chairman P C Chacko is set to tell Raja that instead of appearing before JPC as a witness, he can submit a "rebuttal note" on the statement made by Attorney General G E Vahanvati before the Committee that the controversial press note regarding 2G licences was changed at the last minute by the former telecom minister in 2008 with a different pen.
The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament has sent to the Telecom Ministry, a volley of questions including why views of the Finance Ministry, Law Ministry and even the Prime Minister were ignored when taking decisions on allocation of spectrum in 2008.
As the standoff in Parliament on the 2G Spectrum issue showed no signs of resolution, the government today appears to have decided to wear out the Oppostion by not adjourning the House before its scheduled close.
After staging a walkout from the meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee examining the 2G spectrum scam, the BJP on Tuesday accused its Chairman P C Chacko of being 'biased' and threatened to quit the panel.
Lambasting the cola manufacturers for not offering enough options to the Indian consumers in terms of non-caffeine soft drinks, a parliamentary panel has asked the government to reduce the present permissible limit for caffeine in such drinks.
There is an urgent need for a Joint Parliamentary Committee to examine the current liability regime besides a high-powered trans-disciplinary independent experts committee to study the issue, says Gopal Krishna.
On a day when the Joint Parliamentary Committee into the 2G scam was set up, the Public Accounts Committee Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi said his panel has every authority to ask Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to appear before it.
'It would be reasonable to assume that Modi 3.0 would be more focused on projects and schemes which do not require any legislative change or which have the support of its coalition partners,' asserts A K Bhattacharya.
Slamming the United Progressive Alliance government for adopting the path of confrontation with the Opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday made it clear that it was in no mood to let passage of bills in Parliament.
In a bid to end the confrontation in the Joint Parliamentary Committee, its chairman P C Chacko, under opposition fire, on Friday expressed willingness to consider amendments to the controversial draft report on 2G spectrum scam which gave clean a chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
Senior Congress leaders admit that the JPC issue has boomeranged against the party, reports Renu Mittal.
Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai on Monday appeared before the Joint Parliamentary Committee, which is probing the 2G spectrum scam, to explain how the government auditor quantified the losses in the spectrum allocation at Rs 1.76 lakh crore. Rai was asked to brief the Committee, chaired by Congress leader P C Chacko, on the allocation and pricing of telecom licences and spectrum during 1998 to 2009.
A meeting of Joint Parliamentary Committee examining 2G scam on Tuesday saw heated exchanges as Bharatiya Janata Party members demanded summoning of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and top PMO officials which was countered by Congress members with their own list of witnesses that included all National Democratic Alliance telecom ministers.
The draft report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G scam is critical of the decision taken by the then National Democratic Alliance government to grant concessions to telecom operators over non-recovery of "huge amount" of licence fee despite opposition by then Telecom Minister Jagmohan.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday virtually rejected the government's proposal for setting up a Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the VVIP helicopter deal, saying that the move was aimed at scuttling the probe as current Lok Sabha's term will end next year.
With Joint Parliamentary Committee chairman P C Chacko stating that the Parliament Accounts Committee should confine itself to the Comptroller and Auditor General report on 2G spectrum allocation, PAC chief Murli Manohar Joshi on Wednesday refused to join issue with him. He said Chacko should give his suggestions in writing.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said Murli Manohar Joshi will continue as chairman of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee for 2011-12, currently looking into anomalies in the 2G spectrum scam, as he is doing a "good job".
With the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament on a questioning spree in 2G spectrum scam case, it has not gone down well with Joint Parliamentary Committee chairman PC Chacko who feels that the PAC has gone beyond its mandate, and wants a 'conflict' to be avoided. Chacko underlined that the PAC's mandate was limited to looking into accounting irregularities in the 2G spectrum allocation as highlighted by the comptroller and auditor general, and it should not give an impres
Against the backdrop of alleged collusion between Central Bureau of Investigation prosecutor and an accused in 2G scam, CBI chief Ranjit Sinha today insisted that it has not "polluted" the probe into the case but admitted that the agency's reputation suffers by such incidents.
Notwithstanding strong demand by Bharatiya Janata Party members for calling Finance Minister P Chidambaram, the Joint Parliamentary Committee examining 2G spectrum allocation scam is unlikely to call him or any other minister as witnesses.
Documents related to 2G spectrum allocation cannot be accessed by the public till the Joint Parliamentary Committee completes its probe and submits its report, the Central Information Commission has stated. The JPC, which is probing the high-profile scam, has directed the finance ministry not to reveal any information till it completes the probe.
Was the prime minister's offer to appear before the Public Accounts Committee 'precedent' an afterthought? Looks like it, if one were to go carefully through the press handout being distributed at the media centre at the Congress plenary in New Delhi.
With the Parliament stalled for the 18th consecutive day on Tuesday over the demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee into the 2G spectrum scam, the Congress core committee met yet again on Tuesday evening to take stock of the situation both inside and outside Parliament.
The demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into disclosures by retail giant Walmart on lobbying in India was made by several members in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
An united opposition on Thursday forced the adjourned of Parliament, as the opposition raised slogans for a joint parliamentary committee probe in the controversial allocation of 2G spectrum. As soon as the Lok Sabha assembled, opposition members from Bharatiya Janata Party, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Shiv Sena and Samajwadi Party trooped into the well, waving photocopies of newspaper reports on alleged irregularities in the 2G spectrum Congress mem
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Balbir Punj on Friday demanded Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's resignation -- in the wake of former Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrashekhar's revelation to the Joint Parliamentary Committee investigating the 2G scam -- that Dr Singh had ignored his recommendation that an entry fee of Rs. 36,000 crore be charged for spectrum.
Bharatiya Janata Party members of the Joint Parliamentary Committee examining the 2G spectrum issue on Thursday boycotted the meeting of the panel in protest against Chairman P C Chacko's refusal to accede to their demand to summon the prime minister and the finance minister.
The Congress and other opposition parties had opposed the amendments.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has seen a reduction in fighter squadrons due to the phasing out of ageing MiG-21, MiG-23 and MiG-27 aircraft. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence acknowledged the "shortage" and highlighted the multi-pronged approach being taken to address it. This includes the induction of indigenous Tejas fighters and the procurement of additional LCA Mk-1A aircraft. The report also addresses concerns over "incidences of spying" within the IAF and details the action taken against those involved.
Defending the walkout of its members from the Joint Parliamentary Committee meeting, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday alleged that the "brazen" manner in which the Congress leaders behaved showed the government had a "game plan" to scuttle the panel's probe into the 2G spectrum scam.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress were on Wednesday locked in a confrontation in the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G scam with members of the main opposition storming out of its meeting over the issue of calling Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram and threatening to quit from it.
Terming the alleged large-scale corruption in the Commonwealth Games projects as a 'national shame,' the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention into the matter and demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe.
The issues of recall of Gujarat governor and dismissal of Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh created turmoil in Parliament on Tuesday leading to adjournment of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha till noon.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is expected to name the committee's chairperson soon.
Earlier in the day, the Comptroller and Auditor General came in for some tough questioning at the JPC meeting on its presumptive loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer in 2G spectrum allocation with some members questioning its mandate of looking into a policy decision for arriving at the figure.
An "exhaustive" list of witnesses, which includes former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, was on Tuesday placed before the JPC probing the 2G spectrum allocation scam, but a decision whether to call them was deferred.
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