Joint parliamentary committee is not a representative body, says govt

Apparently seeking to drive a wedge in the opposition camp, the government today said even if a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe was ordered into the second-generation (2G) mobile telephony spectrum allocation, only seven of the 37 parties could find a place in the committee.

"Parliament is represented by 37 political parties, but the JPC would be restricted only to seven parties. Would it be a representative body," parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal told reporters.

Noting that the Supreme Court was seized of the matter and was pro-actively going into the issue, he said investigation, prosecution and adjudication cannot be done by a parliamentary panel.

The proper forum for discussion on any issue would be the Parliament, he said.

Bansal's comments came close on the heels of NDA declaring that there was no going back on the issue of JPC demand as it was a multi-dimensional scam, undermining democracy itself and wondering why the government was "scared" of such a probe.

Though the financial business of Parliament would be completed tomorrow with Rajya Sabha taking up the appropriation bills for railways, sources said there was no immediate possibility of Parliament adjourning sine die as government was in no mood to rush through the pending bills.