2G scam: JPC report to be tabled in winter session

NEW DELHI; The issue of the JPC report on 2G scam, which gave a clean chit to the Prime Minister and indicted former Telecom Minister A Raja, is likely to be debated in Parliament in the Winter session beginning on Thursday during which the findings of the panel will be tabled.

BJP, CPI and the DMK today said they would raise the matter manner as a constitutional institution was "subverted".

"The way the report was adopted with a thin margin, the number of dissent notes submitted and other issues will be raised in Parliament," Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj told reporters after an all-party meeting convened by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar ahead of the Winter session.

CPI's Gurudas Dasgupta, a member of the JPC, said since the committee is the "child" of Parliament, its functioning would come up for debate.

DMK's T R Baalu said his party would raise the "key issue" of excluding Raja's statement in the JPC report on 2G spectrum.

Terming the JPC report as "half baked", Baalu said "despite repeated requests by several political parties and Raja, he was not given a proper opportunity to dispose before the committee to tell the truth."

Members from BJP, BJD, CPI, CPM, Trinamool Congress, AIADMK and DMK voted against the report adopted by the committee by a majority vote on 27 September and had submitted dissent notes.

Panel chief P C Chacko had expunged certain portions of the dissent notes on the controversial report saying he had powers to remove portions which were unparliamentary.

The report also accuses Raja of forging the press note of January 7, 2008 after it was seen by the then Solicitor General G E Vahanvati.