2G: Joshi Panel summons Vahanvati and CBI Chief

NEW DELHI: Attorney-General G Vahanvati, CBI director AP Singh and law secretary DR Meena are expected to depose before the Public Accounts Committee, probing the 2G spectrum allocation scandal, on Friday.

PAC is likely to quiz Vahanvati about the legal opinions he may have given to the Telecom Ministry when he was Solicitor-General in UPA-I. The Attorney-General has been made a witness by CBI in its chargesheet filed before the special court in the 2G scam.

Friday will be the second time that the CBI director will appear before the PAC. Singh had deposed before the parliamentary committee on February 15, when he said that it was wrong to say that the 2G spectrum allocation had caused zero loss to the national exchequer.

The CBI director has also had a separate meeting with PAC chairman Murli Manohar Joshi in March. CBI is investigating the 2G spectrum case and has already filed a chargesheet. Cabinet secretary KM Chandrasekhar and principal secretary to the prime minister TKA Nair have been asked to appear on Saturday as PAC is likely to scrutinise the role of the Prime Minister's Office in the controversial allocation of 2G spectrum.

The two senior bureaucrats are likely to be asked questions on the communications between the Finance Ministry, the Telecom Department and the PMO on the allocation of 2G spectrum. Sources said that the two top officials could also be asked questions based on the Prime Minister's recent statement that the Finance Ministry and Telecom Ministry had concurred on the issue.

These are among the last set of hearings to be held by PAC. The Committee is in the process of filing its report on the 2G case and may complete it before its term ends on April 30. New members, elected on the last day of the Budget session, will join the committee on May 1, after which the PAC will turn its attention to probing anomalies in 2G allocation.