DMK unhappy as JPC fails to give documents

With just a few days left for the September 23 meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on 2G spectrum allocation, the DMK has expressed its displeasure at the panel’s failure to provide records and documents sought by it.

DMK’s parliamentary party leader and lone member of the JPC T.R. Baalu told The Hindu from Chennai over phone on Monday that it was more than a week since he wrote a letter to JPC Chairman and Congress Lok Sabha member P.C. Chacko seeking some records and documents relevant to the ongoing probe. “But till now they have not been provided to me. I will definitely raise the issue at the September 23 meeting.”

Mr. Baalu refused to reveal the contents of his letter to Mr. Chacko as “it is a confidential letter between a member and the JPC Chairman.” He, however, did not rule out the possibility of his giving a dissent note to the final report of the JPC.

The final report is likely to be given to the Lok Speaker soon and subsequently tabled in Parliament in the winter session.

Originally the DMK had two representatives in the JPC. But the party’s Tiruchi Siva of the Rajya Sabha was replaced with a nominated member after his term in the Upper House ended recently.

The DMK has been asking Mr. Chacko to allow its Lok Sabha member and former Communications Minister A. Raja to depose before the JPC as he had “so much to say” on spectrum allocation. But the party’s request, along with similar pleas made by the CPI and BJP members of the committee, has not been met so far.

A few months back Mr. Baalu had stated: “We will not budge till our MP Mr. Raja is allowed to appear before the JPC. They have dented the image of the DMK and it is the question of setting it right. He should be allowed to explain his position on the spectrum allocation issue.”

Mr. Raja, in a letter to Mr. Chacko, expressed surprise at his being prevented from testifying before the JPC.

The JPC was constituted on March 4, 2012. It is examining the telecom policies of the NDA and UPA governments and allocation of spectrum between 1998 and 2008.