The Public Accounts Committee, chaired by senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi, on Wednesday described Union Communications Minister Kapil Sibal's recent comments on the CAG report on 2G spectrum allocation as “improper” and “inappropriate.”
The committee's comments came after BJP leader Arun Jaitley rubbished Mr. Sibal's remarks within a few hours of his press conference here. Privately, BJP leaders were talking about “breach of privilege,” though it was not stated officially that the party would press for this.
At its meeting here on Wednesday, the PAC empowered its Chairman to take up the issue with the Lok Sabha Speaker and the President of India, some other members of the powerful parliamentary committee said later. They indicated that Congress MPs on the committee were “defensive” when asked why the Minister, and even the Congress, had tried to run down the work of the CAG. They reportedly said media reports on the Minister's comments were not quite accurate, as what he had said was more nuanced and he had talked about the CAG's “erroneous calculations.”
The PAC members reckoned that Mr. Sibal's remarks “lowered the prestige” of the CAG as well as the PAC that was seized of the matter. “If the Minister had something to say, the appropriate forum was the PAC,” Mr. Joshi said.
Mr. Joshi said the committee had asked him “to take steps” so that “such incidents do not occur in the future.” However, he refused to detail what these steps would be. Asked whether these could include asking Mr. Sibal to appear before the PAC, he responded: “There is no such proposal before me.”
Asked whether the CAG's estimate of Rs.1,76,000-crore loss of revenue to the government by the mishandling of spectrum allocation was correct, Mr. Joshi said the CAG itself had given three separate calculations and talked about a range of losses that might have occurred. It did not fix the estimated revenue loss at Rs.1,76,000 crore. At a press conference here, he said: “The sense of the committee” was that Mr. Sibal's remarks were “improper.
Keywords: 2G scam, spectrum allocation, CAG report, Kapil Sibal
It is far beyond any doubt that Mr. Sibal's open remarks against CAG are improper and against the code of conduct as a member of the parliament. His indulgence without any application of mind on his part is most unbecoming. For that matter no member of parliament is entitled to come open with their reactions when the report is tabled before the house for a debate. So far as the public is concerned, they are not covered by any code in as much as it is they who sent the MPs as their representatives to the parliament. The public has got every right as to their freedom of expression on a matter concerning the country and its people. CAG is a wing of the constitution on par with legislature and judiciary. It is an independent body with certain powers given by the constitution. If this simple logic of common sense is also lacking in our elected representatives like Mr. Kapil Sibal, we wonder how these leaders can run the affairs of the country efficiently?
Mr.Sibal perhaps forgot that he is a Cabinet Minister and not a lawyer defending someone accused in a corruption case. We should not castigate him for a bout of delusion which all of us are prone to. This is the kindest remark one can make about Mr.Sibal's outpourings on the 2G scam.
It is hard to believe that Mr Sibal has made such a comment. When the matter is seized in the Supreme Court and when CAG is a constitutional entity, the Union Minister, who also is an eminent lawyer and jurist ought to have been more circumspect while throwing mud at some one. His challenge here as a statesman is not adversarial but something more pious than that. By imputing incompetence and by pooh-poohing the CAG, he is undermining a constitutional creation. It is disappointing that he is acting like an advocate for Congress, rather than a mature statesman. I saw him conducting some cases very brilliantly that made me an admirer (I did not miss a single second during his address of the joint session of Parliament during the impeachment of Justice Veerasamy). I think that he ought to have allowed CAG, PAC and the SC to discharge their duty and challenge the verdicts at appropriate forums but not set up Kangaroo Courts. I think that our constitutional bodies have enough character to deliver.
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