Chacko rejects Sinha`s demand for PM`s appearance before JPC on 2G

JPC chairman PC Chacko rejected Yashwant Sinha`s demand for PM`s appearance before the panel probing the 2G issue.

New Delhi: JPC chairman PC Chacko on Wednesday rejected BJP leader Yashwant Sinha`s demand for Prime Minister Minister Singh`s appearance before the panel probing the 2G issue, saying the committee has "passed that phase". "We have passed that phase. We are now preparing the draft of the committee report for which the Commitee has authorized its Chairman unanimously," Chacko, who is also a Congress spokesperson, said at the AICC briefing.

Chacko, who had yesterday rubbished Sinha`s demand as a "political stunt", today questioined how can any individual member of the JPC make such a suggestion when a due process has to be followed on whether any minister has to be called before the panel or not. "There is no question of calling the Prime Minister or any minister just like that. We cannot call people merely because of somebody making a statement, " he said. Chacko claimed that "in the 56 meetings of the JPC, nobbody gave a suggestion for calling the Prime Minister or any Minister." "Moreover, there is a rule that no minister can be called before the JPC. If at all JPC wants to call a minister, it has to take a unanimous decision first and then send the request to Lok Sabha Speaker. Any miinister can be called before a Parliamentary panel only after the permission of the Speaker," the JPC Chairman said. Two days after Sinha, a JPC member, wrote to the Prime Minister on the issue, Singh responded today by saying that "the decision as to what evidence should be sought and which individuals should be asked to appear before the JPC is a matter that needs to be decided internally by the JPC and its Chairman." Chacko said "if the JPC is not calling the PM (to appear before it), what can the Prime Minister do." PTI