PAC's image takes a beating after 2G draft report leak

The unseemly happenings in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting that is probing into the 2G spectrum allocation scam on Thursday with as many as 11 members of the 21-member PAC, excluding the Chairman Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, rejecting the ‘draft report' and the latter himself walking out of the re-convened meeting in the evening, do not redound to the credit of this illustrious institution of Parliament.

More than the contents of the draft report that indicted former Telecom Minister, Mr A. Raja, and passed strictures on the Prime Minister Office and the then Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, for their alleged silence, the leakage of the draft report even before it was endorsed by the Committee on Thursday speaks eloquently about the sanctity and privileges of members of Parliament.

Never has there been any such leakage of a PAC report to the media before the report is placed in Parliament.

When asked about this contravention of convention, an MP told Business Line that the type of cases PAC had examined in the past and the one it has been examining now were vastly different with the PAC Chairman even addressing news conferences on the proceedings whenever a high profile public figure appeared before it.

While this was construed understandable because the PAC Chairman, always a senior member of the Opposition, likes to get some mileage for the role he has been tasked to perform, the leakage of the draft report to media and particularly to the electronic media a day ahead smacks of deliberate attempts to flout conventions.

In fact in the morning meeting of the PAC, members, cutting across party lines, discussed the leakage of the draft report with a few even commenting that this was a question of ethics and called for an inquiry into it by the CBI.

Interestingly, even as the PAC Committee on this issue has been squabbling over the contents, there is a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the same subject and the latter's Chairman, Mr P.C. Chacko, too is reportedly peeved with the premature publicity the PAC has been earning.

According to PRS Legislative Research, which works with MPs cutting across party lines to track the functioning of Parliament, the JPC and PAC can only look at the documents and question Ministry officials who depose before the Committee.

It further said prosecution of individuals and cancellation of licences remain executive functions and can only be initiated by the Government which has already given the work to the CBI, duly being supervised by the country's apex court.

It further revealed that a 2009-10 report of the PAC stated that there were 4,934 audit paragraphs on the 54 reports it submitted to Parliament between 2005 and 2010 that are still pending with various Ministries.

The JPC can recommend the prosecution of a particular person or the cancellation of certain licences but the Government can disagree with the JPC findings and refuse to take action.

With the country's premier investigating agency already being in the thick of prosecution against the persons allegedly involved in the 2G spectrum allocation issue, the two Committees of Parliament could only reveal the fissures of political divide by examining the issue concurrently, policy analysts said.

In this regard, they cited the pertinent points of PRS Legislative Research which has drawn attention to important pending Bills in Parliament for passage such as the Seeds Bill 2004 and Amendment to the Right to Education Act 2010, while Bills for introduction include the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill and the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill.

geeyes@thehindu.co.in