JPC motion in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday
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The process of formation of the JPC for probing the 2G spectrum allocation scam will be completed on Tuesday when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh moves a motion in the Rajya Sabha, which is expected to approve it.
Mr Singh, who is the leader of the Rajya Sabha, will seek the approval of the Upper House for the motion for setting up the 30-member Joint Parliamentary Committee.
The motion will also have the names of ten members from the Rajya Sabha for the JPC which already has 20 members from the Lok Sabha.
While BJP leaders Ravi Shankar Prasad and S.S. Ahluwalia have already been nominated by the party, the names of Tiruchi Siva (DMK), S.C. Mishra (BSP), Abhishek Singhvi and Jayanthi Natarajan (both Congress) and Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) are doing the rounds.
After the adoption of the motion, the matter would be referred back to the Lok Sabha and speaker Meira Kumar would nominate the chairman.
The names of Congress leaders V. Kishore Chandra Deo and P.C. Chacko are being mentioned to head the committee that was formed after a nearly three-month confrontation between the Opposition and the ruling UPA.
The appointment of the committee led to end of the deadlock in Parliament to probe what is being dubbed by the Opposition as the biggest scam in independent India. The stalemate had resulted in the washout of the entire winter session.
In the Lok Sabha, leader of the House and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had last week moved the motion for appointment of the committee to look into the telecom policy pursued from 1998 to 2009, including the allocation and pricing of telecom licences and spectrum.
The committee will also examine "irregularities and aberrations, if any," and the consequences thereof in the implementation of government decisions and policy prescriptions.
The JPC, which will give its report by the end of the monsoon session of Parliament, will make recommendations to ensure formulation of appropriate procedures for implementation of laid down policy in the allocation and pricing of telecom licences.
The 2G spectrum scam, according to the CAG, has led to a presumptive loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the government and the issue has become a major one for the Opposition which has used it to target the government both inside and outside Parliament in the last few months.
In the wake of the CAG report, telecom minister A. Raja was forced to quit and he is now in jail. The Public Accounts Committee, CBI and other agencies are looking into the issue.
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