Thaindian News

New Delhi, Jan 12 (IANS) A top official Thursday clarified that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had merely “seen” and not approved a background note questioning P. Chidambaram’s role in the 2G telecom spectrum scandal.

R. Gopalan, secretary, department of economic affairs, told the joint parliamentary committee examining the telecom pricing policy that Mukherjee had not prepared the controversial note, which was compiled by various government departments.

“Seeing a file or a note does not mean approving it,” Gopalan is said to have told the multi-party parliamentary panel.

Sources said that Gopalan was grilled, more by opposition members, on the note suggesting that Chidambaram when he was finance minister in 2008 could have stopped the sale of scarce radiowave licences on first come first serve basis by enforcing auction of the spectrum.

The covering letter to the note says it was seen by Mukherjee.

The sources said Gopalan was asked to explain the meaning of the word “seen”. The official denied that Mukherjee had approved the note.

He told the panel that approval is sought for a proposal not for files which are referred to ministers and senior officials before forwarding them.

He said as a senior official in the ministry he was responsible for the note.

Opposition MPs, particularly from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have been seeking Home Minister Chidambaram’s resignation accusing him of involvement in the scam on the basis of the finance ministry note.

Chidambaram has denied it saying that his suggestions were overlooked by the telecom ministry in the allocation of the 2G spectrum on non-auction basis.

Gopalan is to appear before the JPC again later this month after Congress members insisted that they needed time to question him again.