Pranab Mukherjee calls for debate on recent scams in Parliament

KOLKATA - Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday called for a debate on recent scams on the floor of the Parliament House, and said the government would respond to their questions.

Interacting with mediapersons outside his residence in Kolkata, Mukherjee said investigation is going on the other relevant issues.

He said he had had two meetings with the Opposition, and the Lok Sabha Speaker, Meira Kumar, had also called an All-Party meeting to solve the deadlock.

“Public Accounts Committee (PAC) itself is a Joint Parliamentary Committee. I do not understand that why two JPC should be there to look into same matter. And it is the constitutional responsibility of the Public Accounts Committee to examine the report of the Comptroller and Director General, side by side all other relevant inquiries are going on,” said Mukherjee.

Mukherjee further said once the issues are discussed between the two sides a solution can be found.

“Let the whole issue be debated in the Parliament on the floor of the House. Let them say whatever they want to say on the floor of the House and government will respond,” he said.

Mukherjee said as soon as the XIXth Commonwealth Games got over, the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had appointed Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) to look into the irregularities. Later, Central Bureau of Investigation, and Income Tax department Enforcement Directorate were also engaged in the investigation process. And as soon as the CAG report came, the matter had been referred to the PAC. By Sankha Ghosh (ANI)