JOIN USAs the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) looking into anomalies in 2G Spectrum allocation on Wednesday grilled Secretary Economic Affairs and Finance Secretary on the controversial March 25 note on 2G pointing to the role of P Chidambaram in the matter many questions remained unanswered.
Secretary of Economic Affairs R Gopalan who appeared before the committee along with Finance Secretary R S Gujral for the second time in seven months, is understood to have told that the note prepared last year was based on available facts and was prepared to harmonise the facts available with various ministries.
Sources said Gopalan admitted that he did share the proportional responsibility of the note being the senior-most official of the Finance Ministery involved in the process. He was asked about the need for the note when the 2G spectrum allocation issue was already before the courts.
Sources said when Gurudas Dasgupta (CPI) asked Gopalan whether the note blamed then Finance Minister P Chidambaram for not insisting on auctioning 2G spectrum, the official is learnt to have merely said that the document was a “statement of facts” and refused to say anything further.