2G scam: JPC to summon finance secretary RS Gujral

NEW DELHI: BJP, Left and BSP on Tuesday got together to pillory the government for keeping the Finance Ministry's note to the PMO, which suggested that P Chidambaram could have averted the 2G spectrum scandal, out of the Joint Parliamentary Panel's reach.

The ruckus in the panel over the issue forced JPC chairman PC Chacko to summon Finance Secretary RS Gujral to explain why the document was not shared with the panel probing the scandal.

Yashwant Sinha, Ravishankar Prasad, Sitaram Yechury, Gurudas Dasgupta and Satish Mishra, who led the attack against the government, charged that it was part of a larger attempt to mislead the panel. Yechury and Dasgupta said if non-submission of the 2G note was a deliberate act, it amounted to breach of privilege and if it was a lapse, it was a serious one.

In an attempt to prevent such scenario in future where the parliamentary panel is kept in the dark over any matter concerning 2G spectrum, the committee decided to ask the finance, telecom, law ministries, PMO and Planning Commission to certify that they have submitted all related documents to JPC.

Opposition members said the Finance Ministry note had given a new dimension to the issue and unless the Finance Secretary appeared before the panel it should not go ahead with the proceedings