New Delhi: HRD Minister Kapil Sibal has
termed the draft PAC report on 2G Spectrum allocation as "not
a report" because it has not been adopted by the Parliamentary
Committee, but said it is for Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar to
decide on the matter.
"The PAC Chairman (Murli Manohar Joshi) himself said
he had adjourned the meeting. So obviously for a report to be
adopted, it has to be adopted either unanimously or by a
majority. In any case it was not adopted by a majority, so
there is no report," Sibal told a news channel in an interview.
He was asked to comment on the status of the PAC
report submitted by Joshi to the Speaker.
"For it to be an official report it has to be adopted.
So when did the adoption take place? Who adopted it? Was it
done unanimously or by a majority? It is nobody`s case that
this was done," Sibal said.
However, he made it clear that whatever decision the
Speaker takes on the status of the PAC report would be
acceptable to the government.
"Naturally the government has to accept... We are
bound to. The Speaker is the Speaker," he said, in reply to a
question.
In this particular case the Speaker "will decide the
matter", Sibal said.
Recalling the April 28 meeting of the PAC which
witnessed high drama, he said the 11 members -- 9 from the
Congress-DMK combine and one each from BSP and SP -- of
the PAC gave letters to Joshi to the effect that they were
rejecting the report.
Asked whether the proceedings that took place after
Joshi had adjourned the PAC meeting had any significance,
Sibal said, "The votes have been submitted to the (Lok Sabha)
secretariat."
He refuted media reports that the SP and BSP members
had not submitted letters stating they were rejecting the
report and had merely demanded that more time should be given
to the issue.
When told that the PAC chairperson has to be from the
Lok Sabha and a Rajya Sabha member could not have chaired the
meeting after Joshi`s adjournment, Sibal said it was common
law that any person can act as the presiding officer, though
"not as chairman", for a particular meeting.
Congress member from Rajya Sabha Saifuddin Soz had
`chaired` the PAC `meeting` on April 28 after Joshi had
adjourned it.
Sibal said he was "deeply dismayed" at the recent
developments in the PAC.
PTI
