By IANS,
New Delhi : Former union minister of telecommunications A. Raja Wednesday urged the Lok Sabha Speaker to return the JPC report on the 2G scam, saying it was partisan and with political overtones.
In a letter submitted to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, Raja, one of the accused in the 2G scam, sought that P.C. Chacko, chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) that produced the report, be asked to re-submit it, including also the statement that the former telecommunications minister had written.
“For reasons that are all too well known to be written, the chairman of the JPC chose to adopt a partisan and political role and ensured a report that was more political than parliamentary in character,” Raja said, handing over the letter to the Speaker’s office.
“I would urge you to return the report to the chairman and direct him to resubmit it after including my written statement,” Raja said in his letter.
JPC chairman P.C. Chacko had submitted the JPC report on the 2G scam along with six dissenting notes to the Speaker Oct 29, after the parliamentary committee had inquired into the scam for 19 months.
The report that was adopted by the majority of the JPC members Sep 27 had held Raja responsible for the scam.
It had also disagreed with the Comptroller and Auditor General’s finding that the 2G scam caused a loss of Rs.1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer.
The report will be tabled in the winter session of parliament.
Expressing shock that the JPC report did not include a written note he had submitted April 22, 2013, Raja said that despite several requests to be allowed to depose before the parliamentary committee, he was not heard.
Raja said the JPC was mandated to bring out the truth, but its manner of excluding his written statement, and not even so much as mentioning it in the final majority report, showed that the committee had “chosen to hide behind falsehood”.
He also pointed out that although his note was excluded, it was included in the dissenting note by DMK member T.R. Baalu and that of the BJP members.
“I believe that it can be safely said that the credibility of the JPC has touched new depths when the chairman chose to exclude my written statement,” Raja said.
“It is nothing but an act of cowardice, intended solely to prevent the truth from being known,” Raja said in his letter.
Claiming that the chairman may take recourse to the argument that his written statement had been included in the “overall record/proceedings of the JPC”, Raja’s letter said: “This is as good as saying that the truth will remain buried, rather than being made accessible to all.”
The former telecommunications minister said his statement was not properly put to discussion in any of the sittings of the committee, resulting in a situation where the facts stated by him were neither contradicted or refuted by the parliamentary committee.
“This has led to a situation where there is no finality to the factual issues that JPC was supposed to inquire into,” Raja said, adding that the report was a “half-baked and half-hearted effort that takes the matter no further and is indeed a disservice to parliament”.