STUCK BETWEEN JPC AND PAC

By BOSCO CELESTINE
Three weeks have gone by, both houses of Parliament is yet to sit for a complete day. This winter session will go down in the history of Indian Parliament as one of adjournments. Day after day, members would come to the house in morning enter the well of the house demand constitution of a Joint Parliament Committee over 2-G spectrum Scam. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government wants nothing of it.

Yes, the government managed to get through Money Bills like the Supplementary. Demands for Grants (General) and a similar one for the Railways.

Conflicting views have been expressed on whether the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) headed by BJP stalwart Dr Murli Manohar Joshi is good enough to probe the Comptroller and Auditor-General scathing report on the allocation of 2 G spectrum.

Joshi’s proactive approach in proceeding with the probe into the spectrum scam when his colleagues are insisting on a JPC had intrigued many in the Opposition who feared that this could be exploited by Congress.

Congress has favoured a PAC probe into the scam and has even offered to attach an investigating agency to signal its seriousness and to claim that it did not expect the committee headed by a senior BJP leader to be less than thorough in getting to the bottom of the mega scam.

But the opposition particularly the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the left maintain that such a colossus scam could be probed by the JPC. The say that JPC is the only committee is empowered to summon Prime Minister and Ministers. The authority on Parliamentary Practice and Procedures Kaul and Shakhder while giving a exhaustive comments on the functions of various committees are, however, silent on the powers of the Committees. There lies the catch.

It says “Powers of the Committees of the Lok Sabha, are as laid down in the Constitution, the Rules and Directions issued. There under by the Speaker from time to time. Rules relating to certain committees, instead of conferring specific powers on them, provide that the general rules applicable to Parliamentary Committees shall apply to them with such adaptations, whether by way of modifications, addition or omission, as the Speaker may consider necessary or convenient”.

Since the Committees are the creation of the Parliament, Speaker alone can permit the Prime Minister of the day or any of the ministers to face the Committees. So Speaker’s permission has to be sought. In this context, the Prime Minister or Minister need not appear  before the Committees even if summoned. Once the Speaker decides, it is a different matter. Apart from the Constitutional aspect, There is a political twist to the whole issue.

There is sharp difference in the top echelons of the BJP that Dr Murli Manohar Joshi should not run away with the credit for the success of the probe and therefore PAC should be stopped to go into scam at all costs. The problem with the Congress is that it is totally opposed to Prime Minister being summoned. Fears of the Congress is that there could be selective leakage of the deposition appearing in the media on a daily basis defeating the very purpose for which the JPC was constituted. Another factor which heavily with the ruling regime is Prime Minister appearing before the JPC would create a precedent. Any opposition party or parties could demand a JPC citing this precedence.