Chacko rules out calling Vajpayee to trim down 2G witnesses list

With the joint parliamentary committee [JPC] on the 2G scam racing against time to complete its report by December, the panel chief P C Chacko has started meeting members to trim down the list of witnesses, even as he asserted that the former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee would not be called despite suggestions.

'I have ruled out calling Vajpayee and the former defence minister George Fernandes as witnesses due to their ill health,' Chacko said. He lamented that the names of Vajpayee and Fernandes cropped up in the list of suggested witnesses prepared by the JPC secretariat. 'There were suggestions. I lament that their names were there...there is no question of calling them,' he said.

While Vajpayee's name was suggested as he had held the telecom portfolio after Jagmohan resigned during the National Democratic Alliance [NDA] rule, Fernandes had headed a GoM on telecom in the NDA regime. During one of the meetings, the BJP's Yashwant Sinha had reacted angrily to the inclusion of Vajpayee's name in the list.

The sources said that there was general feeling in the committee that ministers, both former and present, were not required to be called before it as sufficient material was available with it to prepare report as per the terms and reference of the JPC.

Chacko said he has started meeting members individually to finalise the list of witnesses by seeking to delete names which are 'not relevant'. 'The committee feels that there should be no more extension. I am meeting all the 30 members individually to finalise the list of witnesses.

 Names not essential should be deleted as some names earlier suggested by members could not be relevant today,' he said. He said next week the CBDT will depose, followed by the CBI.