Friday, December 9 2005 15:52 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Rejecting Opposition demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Volcker report, Government today (Dec 9, 2005) said it would allow the Justice Pathak inquiry panel to complete its job and had empowered it with all necessary powers for the purpose.

"There is no intention of the Government to have another probe by JPC into the matter," Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Priyaranjan Dasmunsi, told reporters here.

Maintaining that there was a clear distinction between the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), he said when the Tehelka scam broke out, the concerned minister continued to occupy the office of Defence Minister in the erstwhile NDA Government when the probe was on.

"In our case, we appointed an inquiry, the post of the Minister of External Affairs was vacated and the Minister resigned on his own. So, no embarrassment will be caused to the Inquiry Authority while conducting the probe," he said.

Rejecting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demand for a parallel probe by JPC, he said then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had also observed during the Tehelka scam that a JPC would consume more time than an independent inquiry.

"We have to draw lessons from one of the senior-most leaders of our Parliament," he quipped, adding that this showed the transparency of the UPA Government.

To a question that JPC probe was held in the bank scam as well as the stock market scam, Dasmunsi said, "This (Volcker) is an unverified report. It is not a bank scam. No one has looted the UN bank."