Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Sunday re-appointed senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee for a second term, accepting his nomination by the BJP and despite the controversy over the panel's draft report on the 2G spectrum scam he had sent to her office on Saturday.
Dr. Joshi's new term will be for one year.
Faced with disruption by Congress-led members, Dr. Joshi adjourned the last meeting of the 21-member PAC on Thursday and had the report sent to the Speaker with the request that it be tabled in the Lok Sabha. But 11 members alleged that the draft had factual errors, and Dr. Joshi did not adjourn the meeting but staged a walkout. They elected Rajya Sabha MP Saifuddin Soz to conduct the proceedings and rejected the draft Dr. Joshi had prepared.
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Senior Congress MP S.K. Rao handed the Speaker a written submission and briefed her about the way the proceedings of the April 28 meeting were conducted.
Meanwhile, the BJP has hailed the Speaker for honouring the democratic process by re-appointing Dr. Joshi as head of the committee that finalises the financial audit of all Ministries.
Without naming Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal, party spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy expressed shock at his comments that the draft be consigned to the dustbin and demanded that he apologise to Parliament. He hoped that the Congress would act against him for breach of privilege.
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