Dr Murali Manohar Joshi, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, told newsmen that the claim made by Kapil Sibal, who holds temporary charge of telecom ministry was contradicted by Central Bureau of Investigation director A P Singh, who appeared before the committee in Parliament.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi who heads the Public Accounts Committee in Parliament has said that the prime minister's offer to depose before the committee is being considered. Joshi said that the Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai had not been summoned, but was a partt of the committee's proceedings.
The bad assets or gross NPAs of commercial banks fell to a 12-year low of 2.8 per cent in March 2024 and may go down further to 2.5 per cent by the end of the current fiscal, said the RBI's Financial Stability Report (FSR) released on Thursday. Scheduled Commercial Banks' (SCBs) gross non-performing assets (GNPA) ratio fell to 2.8 per cent, and the net non-performing assets (NNPA) ratio to 0.6 per cent at the end of March 2024. "The asset quality of SCBs recorded sustained improvement, and their GNPA ratio moderated to a 12-year low in March 2024. Their NNPA ratio too improved to a record low," said the June FSR.
BJP President Nitin Gadkari tells Gyan Varma that there is no disagreement within the party over the issue of a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the 2G Spectrum scam.
In FY24, the net income generated from Waqf properties fell to about Rs 1.26 crore from Rs 150 crore in FY20.
In an interesting turn of events, the Public Accounts Committee Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi summoned two senior editors of newsweeklies to depose before the PAC in connection to the 2G spectrum scam. Vinod Mehta and Manu Joseph, editors of Outlook and Open Magazine respectively were interrogated about the transcripts of the phone conversations that corporate lobbyist Niira Radia had with others, which were carried in their publications.
Joshi was again nominated by his party following which Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has reappointed him as chairman of PAC which is responsible for conducting the financial audit of various departments and ministries.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday took its grievances against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress-led United Progressive Alliance to President Pranab Mukherjee, demanding his intervention on the coal allocation issue and attacks on a constitutional institution like the Comptroller and Auditor General.
The government on Monday ruled out making public the RBI report detailing the reasons why the central bank could not keep inflation within the targeted 6 per cent upper limit for the three consecutive quarters. "Yes sir, RBI has furnished a report to the central government, as mandated under Section 45ZN of the RBI Act, 1934 and Regulation 7 of RBI Monetary Policy Committee and Monetary Policy process Regulations, 2016," minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply. The said provisions of the RBI Act, 1934, and regulations therein does not provide for making the report public, he said.
Carter was in politics, but not a politician, certainly not a transactional politician, points out Shreekant Sambrani.
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.
The finance ministry on Friday informed a parliamentary committee that smuggling of fake currency has totally stopped post demonetisation and the tax department has seized Rs 515 crore in cash, including Rs 114 crore of new currency notes, up to January 10.
Slamming the Defence Ministry over the nine-year delay in awarding contract to French firm Thales to build six Scorpene submarines in Mumbai, a Parliamentary Committee on Wednesday said the indecisiveness resulted in cost overruns and undue favour to the vendor, besides adversely impacting Navy's operational preparedness.
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.
BJP deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde has been appointed Chairman of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), a post vacated by expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh.
The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Centre to provide information about the numbers and names reiterated by the apex court Collegium for appointment as judges in higher judiciary with reasons why they were not considered so far and at what level they were pending.
The allocations followed two stages.
The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party have united in their demands, calling for the immediate resignation and arrest of P P Divya, a Communist Party of India-Marxist leader and district panchayat president, who leveled graft accusations against ADM Naveen Babu at his send-off function organised by colleagues at the Kannur district collectorate.
Queen Elizabeth II's household finances are at a "historic low" with just 1 million pounds left in reserve, even as the royal palaces were "crumbling" and in urgent need of repair.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on Saturday said Public Accounts Committee chairman Murli Manohar Joshi had no right to submit the draft report on the 2G scam to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar as it was 'rejected' by a majority of the committee's members.
Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari hit out at Public Accounts Committee chairman Dr Murli Manohar Joshi on Friday, for not taking the members of the committee in confidence before the scheduled meeting on Thursday, and for trying to push his report.
Though the 2G scam may be revolving around A Raja, Parliament's Public Accounts Committee chief M M Joshi has rejected demands from some members for calling the former telecom minister who is in jail. Joshi has argued that calling Raja would involve long processes as he in judicial custody and that there are enough records and witness statements to "draw conclusions".
Standing firmly behind Public Accounts Committee Chairperson Murli Manohar Joshi against the onslaught by Congress and Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam members, the Bharatiyas Janata Party on Thursday alleged that these were "calculated, deliberate and sponsored" attacks by the ruling coalition to stall the investigation into 2G scam.
Attorney General Goolam Vahanvati and Law Secretary D R Meena have been called by Parliament's Public Accounts Committee to give evidence in its probe into the 2G spectrum allocation scam.The committee, which has also called Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar, Principal Secretary in Prime Minister's Office T K A Nair and Central Bureau of Investigation Director A P Singh, have asked all of them to depose before it on April 15-16.
Earlier this year, the Union Cabinet gave the management of state-run companies the freedom to decide on divesting their subsidiaries. However, the very next day a meeting was held at the top level of the Government of India, for the presentation of proposals for more autonomy for state-run companies. Interestingly, no chiefs of any of these companies were invited. It is a problem that will stare the government in the face with the state-owned banks too, as talks have again begun for inviting strategic investments in these companies.
Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai has asked Public Accounts Committee Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi for permission to react to Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal\\'s open attack on him over the 2G report, according to sources.
The Public Accounts Committee of Goa assembly has recommended an enquiry by Central Bureau of Investigation or the lokayukta against all those indicted by it in the illegal mining cases.
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".
Amid furore over coal blocks allocation, the government will place its views before Parliament's Public Accounts Committee by September 14 on the observations made by the Comptroller and Auditor General. "The coal ministry will submit its comments to the PAC on CAG's observations on coal blocks allocations by September 14," said a top coal ministry official.
Former Union minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi is likely to become the next chairman of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee while Yashwant Sinha will replace him as head of the Standing Committee on Finance, BJP sources said.
The chiefs of Army, Navy and Air Force have been called on January 12 by the PAC for a hearing on the committee on Canteen Stores Department based on the audit report, which has pointed out irregularities in the supply chain management of rations in the Army.
Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai on Monday briefed the Public Accounts Committee about his report in the 2G spectrum allocation. His report on a presumptive loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore in 2G spectrum allocation had created a storm in Parliament and outside. The PAC, headed by Bharatiya Janata Party veteran leader Murli Manohar Joshi, is examining the controversial allocation of 2G radio waves and Rai apprised the committee of how the audit looked into the whole issue.
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.
The senior IPS officer said that 45 percent of cyber financial frauds taking place in the country are originating from the South East Asia.
Against the backdrop of a CBI prosecutor in 2G case allegedly being caught on tape sharing legal strategy with an accused, members of a Parliamentary panel on Wednesday raised questions on the credibility of the investigation agency and its probe in the case.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sushma Swaraj on Monday met expelled party veteran Jaswant Singh and is understood to have demanded that he step down from the post of chairperson of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee.
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Friday sought to bring the curtain down on the turf war between the Public Accounts Committee and the Joint Parliamentary Committee, asking the two bodies to work in close cooperation and harmony with each other.
Corporate lobbyist Nira Radia appeared in no mood to co-operate with the Public Accounts Committee when she appeared before them for questioning on the 2G scam on Monday morning as her answers were 'evasive' and 'clever,' preferring to use the non-descript phrase, "I do not remember" in reply to most of the questions.
Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, told the media that lobbyist Niira Radia was evasive when she was quizzed in connection with the 2G spectrum scam. Her attitude and the answers she gave to the 12-member committee during her 2-hour questioning seems to have angered Joshi.
Chairman of Public Accounts Committee Murli Manohar Joshi on Tuesday said that there was no conflict or clash between the Joint Parliamentary Committee and the panel headed by him and both can function within their own domain to probe irregularities in 2G spectrum allocation. He said that the JPC was supposed to work under specific terms of reference and conditions and did not have the right to summon the prime minister or any minister but PAC was a constitutional body.
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