JPC: why was Finance Ministry note not given to us?

September 27, 2011 02:03 pm | Updated November 17, 2021 01:29 am IST - New Delhi

In this August 23, 2011 photo, JPC chairman P.C. Chacko is seen during a meeting of the panel. The JPC has decided to summon the Union Finance Secretary on October 13 in connection with the Ministry's note on 2G allocation.

In this August 23, 2011 photo, JPC chairman P.C. Chacko is seen during a meeting of the panel. The JPC has decided to summon the Union Finance Secretary on October 13 in connection with the Ministry's note on 2G allocation.

There is just no end to the woes of the government on the March 25 note sent by the Finance Minister to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on the 2G spectrum scam. Following angry protests by members, the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) has summoned Finance Secretary R.S. Gujral to appear in person and explain why the document was not part of the material provided to it.

Tasked with the mandate to probe telecom policies from 1998 to 2009, the JPC on Tuesday took strong exception to the omission by the Finance Ministry and took steps to ensure that the committee was furnished with all relevant documents on telecom policy issues.

The decisions include an unprecedented direction to all the government agencies concerned to file an affidavit affirming that all relevant papers on telecom policy falling within the terms of reference of the committee have been placed before it. Among those who have to comply with the diktat include the PMO, the Cabinet Secretariat, the Finance Ministry and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

However, it does not cover investigating agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation. The JPC has already directed these agencies to present an update on the status of their investigations on a periodic basis. The CBI was to make its presentation on Wednesday but the meeting has been put off.

After three and half hours of deliberations, JPC Chairman P.C. Chacko told journalists here that the committee would take a call on the further course of action on the Finance Ministry after hearing both the Finance Secretary and his counterpart in the Department of Economic Affairs.

Within hours after media reports on the March 25 note of the Finance Ministry to the PMO surfaced on September 21, the JPC Secretariat, on the direction of Mr. Chacko, wrote to the Ministry seeking copies of the document. On Monday, copies of the note were circulated to the members of the committee.

The much-publicised note suggests that had Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram (at that time holding the charge of the Finance Ministry) ‘stuck to his guns', the spectrum would have been auctioned and not sold in 2008 at prices determined in 2001. The note, prepared by an official in the Finance Ministry, has acquired significance as it was ‘seen' by Mr. Mukherjee.

It implies that the then Telecom Minister, A. Raja, currently in jail on charges of corruption in allotment of telecom licences, had overruled Mr. Chidambaram's recommendation. The note, which has triggered a political storm within the government amidst vociferous demands by the Opposition for the resignation of Mr. Chidambaram, was accessed through a Right to Information application and submitted to the Supreme Court last week.

Some of the JPC members were so upset at the exclusion of the note in the material supplied to the Secretariat that they asked the Chairman to either immediately summon the Finance Secretary or postpone the meeting until the time the Secretary is ready to appear before it.

On persuasion that it would not be feasible to summon the official at such a short notice, the committee settled for October 12 when it is slated to meet again. To keep the members abreast of the voluminous material provided by various government agencies, it was decided to ask the Secretary to the JPC to prepare an index of all the documents.

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