By IANS,
New Delhi : Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) held an internal meeting Thursday to resolve differences over the 2G spectrum probe but problems continue, according to informed sources.
The panel, led by senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Murli Manohar Joshi, met in Parliament House for about two hours. The meeting came in the backdrop of Congress and DMK members questioning the need for the panel to continue its probe into the 2G scam.
They say a joint parliamentary committee (JPC), headed by Congress member P.C. Chacko, had been constituted specifically for the purpose and was already investigating the matter.
“There was no conclusion. The matter is unresolved as differences continue,” a member said about the meeting, kept away from media glare,.
Though the PAC and the JPC have been fighting a turf war over the 2G allocation probe since March, the sharp divisions in the Joshi-headed panel came to the fore last Friday.
Some members are said to have raised procedural issues on calling witnesses to appear before the panel as the matter was also being heard in a court.
Friday proceedings of the PAC ran into rough weather with the testimonies of prime minister’s principal secretary T.K.A. Nair and cabinet secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar being cancelled.
The sources said Joshi is determined to wrap up testimonies and finalise it report by April-end when the current committee’s term ends.
The 22-member panel has seven Congress representatives, four from the BJP, two each from the AIADMK and DMK, and one each from the Shiv Sena, the Biju Janata Dal, the Janata Dal-United, the Samjawadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and Communist Party of India-Marxist.
JPC head Chacko has been publicly asking the PAC to withdraw from the probe.
Joshi has been relentlessly pursuing the investigation, saying he was fulfilling his constitutionally-empowered duty.
Chacko and Joshi also approached Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, who asked the two panels to work in close cooperation and harmony.