JPC examining 2G case may not call ministers as witnesses

He said after calling the CBI to sum up its investigation before the panel on February 12, the JPC will hear Telecom Secretary R Chandrasekhar the same evening to corroborate the evidence gathered by the panel so far.

CBI chief Ranjit Sinha along with other senior officers of the agency are likely to brief the committee.

"We will wrap up evidence gathering and start preparing the draft of the report," Chacko told reporters here.

He said the plan was to submit the report to Parliament by March 31 so that it could be discussed during the second half of the Budget session.

Earlier, the BJP members had boycotted the JPC proceedings after their demand to call Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was shot down by Chacko.

He had said that the demand to call Finance Minister P Chidambaram could be met only if the committee had a unanimous opinion.

A unanimous decision of the committee is required for the Lok Sabha Speaker to take a call on calling a minister as witness.

With UPA and NDA members holding divergent views, a unanimity on the issue is not expected.

BJP members had later started attending the JPC meetings.