A. Six reasons why JPCs do not inspire confidence
- Members of the JPC are nominated by parties based on their strength in the House. So the ruling party or coalition, with larger numbers, dominates. Also, the recommendations of the JPC are only advisory in nature and the government is not bound to act on it.
- In 1987, a JPC was constituted to investigate the Bofors Contract scam. Six major Opposition parties boycotted the JPC since the majority of the Committee’s members were from the Congress. Two of the parties are still BJP allies: Telugu Desam party (TDP) and Asom Gana Parishad (AGP). The Committee’s report, presented in 1988, was rejected by the Opposition (non-Congress) for being biased.
- The JPC report on the ‘Irregularities in Securities and Banking Transaction’, presented in 1993, gave 273 recommendations. Only 87 were actually implemented. The JPC on ‘Allocation and Pricing of Telecom Licences and Spectrum’, presented in 2013, gave 74 recommendations. How many were implemented? We do not know because the ‘action taken’ report was not laid.
- A motion for the appointment of a JPC to investigate the acquisition of Augusta Westland VVIP choppers was passed in the Rajya Sabha in 2013. Opposing the motion, the then Leader of Opposition, Arun Jaitley, had said the JPC will be an “exercise in futility” and was a “diversionary tactic” by the government.
- Since 2014, Parliament has set up 11 JPCs. The motion for constituting the JPC was adopted on the last day of the session in seven cases. In contrast, between 2004 and 2014, three JPCs were set up, none were set on the last day.
- When the JPC report on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill was tabled in Parliament, dissent notes by the Opposition had been redacted (marked over by a whitener). After vociferous protests by the Opposition, BJP MP Medha Kulkarni, who had tabled the report in Rajya Sabha in the morning, had to table a corrigendum to Appendix 5 of the report post-lunch, which contained the notes that were redacted.
JPC – Joint Parliamentary Committee or Just Political Camouflage.
B. Those who form JPCs lose elections
1987: Congress formed JPC on Bofors. In the next elections held in 1989, the Congress failed to form the government.
1992: Congress formed JPC on Harshad Mehta scam. In the next elections in 1996, Congress failed to form the government.
2002 and 2003: BJP formed JPCs on Ketan Parekh scam, and on pesticide in soft drinks respectively. In the next elections in 2004, BJP failed to form the government.
2011 and 2013: Congress formed JPC on the 2G scam, and on VVIP chopper scam respectively. In the next elections in 2014, Congress failed to form the government.
Coincidence or trend?
C. What do the Bills say. Some Opposition parties have already boycotted
The three crucial Bills provide for removal of the Prime Minister, a Chief Minister of a state, or any other Minister in the central or a state government, if s/he is accused of an offence punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years or more, and s/he has been arrested and detained in custody for 30 consecutive days.
The second largest Opposition parties in Parliament, All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), and Samajwadi Party (SP), have decided to boycott the JPC. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (SS-UBT), have also followed suit.