New Delhi: Opposition members in JPC on Tuesday
termed as a "serious lapse" non-submission of a Finance
Ministry note on the 2G spectrum issue before the committee
and demanded that the Finance Secretary be called before it to
give clarifications.
As the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the 2G issue met
here, CPI(M) member Sitaram Yechury raised the issue of the
Finance Ministry note that suggested that the then Finance
Minister P Chidambaram could have insisted on auction of the
radiowaves.
Yechury said the note in question was not among the
documents submitted by the Finance Ministry to the JPC.
He is understood to have contended that if the
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.
BJP member SS Ahluwalia demanded that the Finance
Secretary be summoned today itself to provide clarification on
the issue.
JPC Chairman P C Chacko expressed difficulty in asking
the Finance Secretary to appear before the committee at such a
short notice but it cut no ice with the members.
They insisted that a senior ministry official be asked to
appear before the committee for explanation.
The JPC had met to record evidence of former Telecom
Secretary Nripendra Mishra.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, September 27, 2011, 14:00