JPC may meet on May 7; could seek another extension

The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on 2G scam is likely to meet on Tuesday to decide on the "future course of action" amid possibility of it seeking a fresh extension of tenure to adopt the controversial draft report.

After Lok Sahba Speaker Meira Kumar expressed her inability to remove him as JPC Chairman as demanded by 15 opposition members of the committee, P C Chacko has started contacting members to hold a meeting. But the planned meeting on May 7 is unlikely to adopt the draft report which gave clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram and indicted former Telecom Minister A Raja for the 2G scam.

Instead, the meeting is being convened to decide on the "future course of action" following Speaker's advice to the members to "sink" their differences, sources said. "The faith reposed by Parliament is betrayed by trading allegations against each other. It is, therefore, necessary for the Chairman and the members to sink their differences and present a report as mandated by Parliament," she said in a letter to JPC members yesterday.

With the term of the Committee coming to an end on May 10 along with the end of the Budget session, Chacko is most likely to seek an extension to reach a conclusion as amid divergent views, the panel would not be able to adopt the draft report before Parliament is adjourned sine die, the sources said. The fresh extension could be till the beginning of the Monsoon session of Parliament which is likely to begin around July 23.