Opposition accuses government of concealing facts

 The joint parliamentary committee meeting on the 2G scam on Monday witnessed a fierce exchange of fire, as opposition members accused the government of concealing facts. 

The opposition also sought to know about a word having been rewritten in the internal note of March 25 from the finance ministry to the PMO, which blamed former finance minister P Chidambaram for failing to prevent the scam.

On March 23, a note - believed to be the basis of the March 25 one - signed by Bimal Julka, an additional secretary in the ministry, stated: "It may be noted that some of the interpretations now put forth on detailed analysis of records/correspondence are at variance with the replies sent to the PAC and the CAG earlier."

The opposition said the note clearly showed that the government had tried to mislead the PAC and CAG.

What's more, Julka wrote: "The note may be put up to the finance minister (Pranab Mukherjee) for his perusal (this word was handwritten) before we share the same with cabinet secretariat/PMO."

The opposition latched on to the overwritten word in the note. "It is clear to us that the word 'approved' has been changed to 'perusal' to save the finance minister," said an opposition member of the JPC.

Earlier, Mukherjee claimed that he had only saw the note, but did not approve its content. JPC chairman PC Chacko said, "The note was a background paper consisting of facts that took place after the alleged scam."

After the meeting, Chacko said both finance secretary RS Gujral and secretary in the department of economic affairs R Gopalan told the panel that the ministry had made available "all relevant documents and facts to the JPC" when they had appeared before it on July 7.

He said the "committee took serious note of the fact that number of papers referred to in the note and files relating to preparation of note had not been furnished to the JPC".

The finance ministry officials had been asked to submit all the documents to the committee and appear before it on November 14. CAG Vinod Rai and other officials of the government auditor have also been asked to appear before the JPC on the same day.