The chief argued that calling the former telecom minister would involve long processes as he in judicial custody and that there are enough records and witness statements to "draw conclusions".
Though the 2G scam may be revolving around A Raja, Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chief MM Joshi has rejected demands from some members for calling the former telecom minister who is in jail.
Joshi has argued that calling Raja would involve long processes as he in judicial custody and that there are enough records and witness statements to "draw conclusions".
The demands for calling Raja before the committee as a witness were raised by members during the April 21 meeting to enable them to question about the entire affair, sources said.
Some members had insisted that Raja should be called before the committee as he is the "hero" behind the "drama" of the 2G spectrum allocation scam, the sources said.
Responding to this, Joshi has said in a letter to the committee members that the issue of calling Raja was raised at the "fag end" of the panel's term which expires on Saturday.
Joshi said since Raja was in judicial custody, it would take time to call him before the PAC because of processes involved, the sources said.
He insisted that the committee can "draw conclusions" about the scam without talking to Raja by perusal of records and statements of witnesses.
The demand for calling Raja was among the five issues raised by members, which included whether the PAC should abandon examination of the 2G issue when the JPC has already been formed, relevance of probing the 2G issue when the matter is sub-judice, extending the term of the present PAC and increasing the ambit of PAC probe into 2G scam from 2007-08 to 2003-10.
In a point-by-point reply to the questions raised by members, Joshi has ruled out abandoning the committee's examination of 2G issue, saying Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar has already decided that the role of PAC cannot be "diluted" even though the JPC has been constituted.
The senior BJP leader also said the extension of the present PAC was not possible as Rule 311 (2) of the Rules of Procedures and Conduct of Business of Lok Sabha does not permit the committee to continue beyond its one year term.
He said the extension was "not feasible" unless Rule 309 (2) is "suspended" by the House. On the issue of probing the Telecom sector from 2003-10, Joshi reminded the members that the subject before the PAC was "recent developments" in the Telecom sector in 2G and 3G spectrum allocation and therefore, the issue of widening the probe "does not arise".
The PAC chief said even if the issue was sub-judice, rules do not ban the PAC from examining any matter.
He said even before a JPC on irregularities in Securities and Banking Transactions was formed on August 7, 1992, the government had already formed a Special Court to look into the scam.
"Still the JPC gave its report on December 21, 1993" during the 10th Lok Sabha, he said.
Against the backdrop of sharp divisions within it, PAC will be meeting on Thursday with the intention of adopting a report on 2G spectrum scam to be submitted before its term ends two days later.
The draft report will be circulated among the members prior to that meeting.
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