New Delhi, October 29: The controversial report of the JPC, which gave a clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the 2G spectrum scam saying he was “misled” by the then Telecom Minister A. Raja, was on Tuesday submitted to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar.
The report, on which six parties have submitted dissent notes, also rubbishes the loss figure of Rs. 1.76 lakh crore estimated by the CAG, saying it was “ill conceived”.
JPC chairman P.C. Chacko submitted the report along with the dissent notes, which termed it as a “bundle of contradictions” to the Speaker at her official residence.
The report, which delved into the period between 1998 and 2009, will be tabled in Parliament in the Winter Session likely to commence in the first week of December.
The dissent notes are a way to record members’ objections to the findings and are appended with the final report when it is tabled.
Eleven opposition members, including BJP’s five and one each of the BJD, the TMC, the CPI, the CPI(M), the AIADMK and the DMK voted against the JPC report. BJP’s Gopinath Munde had not attended the meeting.
In its dissent note, the BJP insisted that the Prime Minister and then Finance Minister P. Chidambaram should have been asked to depose before the JPC.
They regretted that even though the main accused, Raja, had made several offers to depose before the panel, he was not allowed to do so.
The report, which was adopted by majority vote on September 27, 2013 in the absence of two JD(U) members, also accuses Mr. Raja of forging the press note of January 7, 2008, after it was seen by the then Solicitor-General G.E. Vahanvati.
Besides the Congress, its UPA ally NCP and outside supporters of the ruling alliance the SP and the BSP had supported the report.
