PAC's powers go beyond CAG report: Joshi

PAC's powers go beyond CAG report: Joshi

Parliament's Public Accounts Committee chairperson M M Joshi has indicated that overlapping of functions of the panel and the JPC into 2G spectrum scam was not a matter of concern and his powers went beyond the CAG report.

In an interaction with the media in New Delhi on Thursday, Joshi said the Public Accounts Committee has a "constitutional mandate" and its functions extend to areas other than CAG reports.

Reading out the Terms of Reference of the PAC, he said, the committee has to satisfy that the "moneys shown in the accounts as having been disbursed were legally available for, and applicable to, the service or purpose to which they been applied or charged."

He said the PAC will also check if the "expenditure conforms to the authority which governs it".

Though Joshi avoided a direct reply to queries on whether he felt JPC has more and wide-ranging powers, he gave broad indications that PAC would continue its probe into the 2G Spectrum allocation despite the formation of the joint panel under P C Chacko.

"There can not just be overlapping but several overlaps (on the 2-G spectrum scam). There can be overlapping with JPC. There can be overlapping with the Supreme Court. There can be overlapping with the CBI probe," Joshi said, in reply to a question on whether overlapping between JPC and PAC would lead to problems.

This appeared to be a mild rebuff to JPC chairperson P C Chacko who had earlier said that PAC should not launch a parallel probe on the 2-G spectrum issue and confine itself to the CAG report.

"I (PAC) am a perpetual body. PAC will be there whether JPC is there or not," Joshi said, adding that the PAC has been investigating the matter even before formation of the JPC.

The BJP leader maintained that before him the 2-G spectrum issue was being looked into by the PAC even under the chairpersonship of his predecessors Jaswant Singh and Gopinath Munde.

"We are doing our duty. We are doing our constitutional as well as our moral duty," he said.

Asked if Chacko had written a letter suggesting that the PAC confine itself to the CAG report, Joshi replied in the negative.

"He may have written a letter but I have not received any," Joshi said, adding that if he gets a letter from Chacko he would look into it.

Asked if Chacko had met him, Joshi said he has been meeting him in Parliament. He did not rule out that the issue may have come up during their casual meetings.
Joshi was evasive on whether and when some prominent journalists who figure in the Niira Radia tapes would be called by the PAC.

"It is for the committee to decide," he said.

Joshi said most of the PAC members had expressed happiness with the presentation made by The Pioneer correspondent Gopi Krishnan, Outlook editor Vinod Mehta and Open editor Manu Joseph.

No clash of interests with JPC: Chacko

Noting that there was no "clash of interests" with the PAC in probing the 2G spectrum allocation, JPC Chairman P C Chacko has said parallel probe by two parliamentary committees was "avoidable".

He also said the names of "seven to eight" former Union Ministers, including members of Group of Ministers (GoM) who were part of decision-making in telecom sector between 1998-2008 would be referred to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar to decide whether their presence in the JPC constituted a clash of interests.

He said that as per rules, only the Speaker can take a decision on the issue and not the JPC.

Addressing reporters after the first meeting of the JPC in New Delhi on Thursday, constituted to look into the 2G spectrum issue, Chacko said members of the committee were "unanimous" that parallel probe by two committees of Parliament inquiring into the same issue was "not good...avoidable...the final reports (of the two committees) could be same and could also differ."

To a question, he said members of the JPC, who are also part of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), shared similar views.

"I would meet the Speaker to discuss the matter (of parallel probes)," he said.

Asked whether he would also meet PAC chief Murli Manohar Joshi, he said he would request the Speaker to call Joshi to discuss the issue.

Referring to a book by M N Kaul and S L Shakder 'Practice and Procedure of Parliament', Chacko said PAC is not concerned with questions of policy but can only look into "extravagance in implementation of the policy."

He said the JPC has been constituted to look into the issue of policy (in telecom sector) as per the terms of reference.

"There is no clash of interest, but parliamentary propriety is that the PAC should not..."

In reply to a question, Chacko said he was "not telling the PAC on what they should do" as it was a constitutional body authorised to go into the CAG findings.

He dubbed as "extended logic" the reported remarks of Joshi that the PAC can always look into a policy if it was devised in a way which led to losses. "That is an extended logic. Good. I am not denying that," he said.

When pointed out that the Committee on Public Undertakings and Standing Committee on Civil Aviation had come out with similar reports on the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines, he said the JPC was not taking that precedence. "We are taking other healthy precedence," he said.

Chacko said the names of "seven to eight" former Union Ministers, including members of Group of Ministers (GoM) who were part of decision-making in telecom sector between 1998-2008, would be referred to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar to decide whether their presence in the JPC constituted a clash of interests.

He said that as per rules, only the Speaker can take a decision on the issue and not the JPC.

Asked whether names of certain MPs who have represented telecom companies in courts would be referred to the Speaker, he replied in an affirmative.

Chacko said some members have replied to his letter asking them to disclose their interests in telecom sector.

"I have received some letters in which members have said they have no interest whatsoever," he said.

The next meeting of the JPC will take place on 18^th May after assembly polls are over in five states. "After that, we may meet more than once a week," he said.

He said members have been provided with copies of the CAG report on 2G spectrum allocation and the Shivraj Patil committee report on the same issue.

As some members have sought cabinet notes pertaining to telecom policy decisions, the JPC chief has written to the Cabinet Secretariat and other departments to furnish the documents.

To a question on whether the JPC will summon Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he said the issue was not discussed today but the offer made by Singh was still open as he had said he was willing to appear before "any committee".

Three members Ravi Shankar Prasad (BJP), M Thambidurai (AIADMK) and T R Baalu (DMK) did not attend the meeting. While Prasad is abroad, Thambidurai and Baalu are busy with Tamil Nadu polls.