RS Chairman refuses to comment on PAC controversy

Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari on Friday steered clear of the controversy surrounding the last Public Accounts Committee over 2G spectrum issue.

"I don't want to go into the working of a committee.

That's not the Chair's job. Whether the Speaker of the Lok Sabha or Chairman of Rajya Sabha, they don''t go into the working of the committee," Ansari told reporters while returning from a two-day visit to Dhaka.

He was asked to comment on the developments involving the Public Accounts Committee, whose last tenure ended on April 30 on an acrimonious note with members from the UPA and Opposition attacking each other.

The UPA members also rubbished the report prepared by Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi, saying it had a malafide intention of destabilising the government.

The report is now with Speaker Meira Kumar who has to decide whether to accept it or not.

Ansari said issues concerning the committees were clearly defined in the parliamentary system.

"There is no ambiguity about it. The privileges of members, the privileges of the committee, these are all," he said but did not complete the sentence.
He, however, pointed out that India has a Parliamentary system 60 years old.