New Delhi: Members of Parliament representing the BJP, the Left and the DMK have submitted privilege notices against Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) Chairman PC Chacko for the manner in which the JPC draft report on the 2G spectrum scam was leaked to the media even before it reached most of the 30 panel members.
According to media reports, BJP and Left members on the JPC have also decided to oppose the draft report at the next meeting of the committee on April 25. They have urged other members to also oppose the report.
If that happens, it will be the first time that members of a JPC will oppose a report.
Notices for moving a breach of privilege motion against Chacko was given by BJP`s Yashwant Sinha, CPI`s Gurudas Dasgupta and DMK`s T R Baalu in Lok Sabha. In Rajya Sabha, BJP`s Ravi Shankar Prasad gave a similar notice, sources said.
With the final JPC report yet to be tabled in Parliament, members alleged that the "more than 500-page draft report" was "deliberately leaked to the media even before it had reached most of the members". While BJP said in its notice that any unauthorized leak of the JPC report was a breach of privilege of Parliament and action should be initiated against those responsible for it, Dasgupta said, "The report was deliberately handed over to the press to gain political mileage. It (the leak) has violated all Parliamentary norms of a JPC and Parliament has been put to shame. If this is allowed to go on then there is no need for any JPC in future."
The Trinamool Congress said that it will take a call on the JPC at a party meeting on Tuesday, but it is likely to oppose the report. BJP sources said the party wants that as chairperson of the JPC, Chacko should explain how the report was leaked to the media.
A text message was received by JPC members on April 18 around 7 pm that copies of the draft report would be sent to their local addresses. However, JPC members were kept waiting till the next day, while copies of the report were leaked to the media.
The BJP is also reportedly miffed at the accusation levelled against former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the JPC report wherein his government has been held responsible for causing a loss of Rs 42,000 crore to the exchequer due to its telecom policy.
Meanwhile, Chacko has appealed to the members to treat the report as confidential, and pleaded ignorance about a privilege notice being issued to him.
ANI
