Even as a political battle for a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to probe the 2G spectrum scandal rages and the Opposition's demand has been stalling Parliament for two weeks, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has quietly begun looking at the scam and the CAG report on the subject.
The first meeting of the PAC, chaired by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi, after the CAG report was tabled in Parliament, was held on Monday; each committee member was given a copy of the report and asked to read it and frame relevant queries that would be sent to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology for answers.
But even before this, the PAC has begun taking evidence on record from key figures. Apparently, the former Telecom Secretary, P.J. Thomas, whose appointment as Chief Vigilance Commissioner is now before the Supreme Court, has already given some evidence to the PAC, as have the former chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Nripendra Misra, and Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla.
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The next meeting will be called as soon as members' queries are forwarded to the Ministry, and answers are forthcoming so that those can be studied and discussed. The PAC is ready to question the Ministry further.
On Monday, the government offered to expand and strengthen the PAC by attaching officials from several investigation agencies to enable it to probe in depth the irregularities in allotment of the 2G spectrum.
But the Opposition turned that down and stuck to its demand for a joint parliamentary committee .
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