Parliament''s Public Accounts Committee on Friday decided to seek the Finance Ministry note from the government which suggests that then Finance Minister P Chidambaram could have insisted on auctioning 2G spectrum.

PAC Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi told the members that in view of the "new revelations", he would shortly seek the note and related correspondence from the Finance Ministry as well as the Prime Minister's Office.

The issue of the note was raised by B Mahtab (BJD) and Naresh Gujral (SAD) during a meeting of the PAC here.

According to sources, Mahtab said in view of the latest developments, it was important to go into the issue especially when Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has returned the draft PAC report on 2G scam.

Joshi said though the note was in public domain now, the Committee cannot take cognizance of it till the time it comes from the government itself. "We can proceed further only after that," Joshi is learnt to have told the Committee.

The PAC Chairman also said that the Committee will have to once again summon the officials related with 2G spectrum allocation and it was within his rights to take suo motu cognizance of the new revelations.

Some members also recalled the deposition of RBI Governor and former Finance Secretary D Subba Rao before the PAC in which he had said that he did not recall the December, 2007 meeting between then Finance Minister P Chidambaram and former Telecom Minister A Raja and no notings existed.

The 10-page note was sent to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) by the Finance Ministry in March last. The note suggested that the scam could have been avoided if the Finance Ministry, then under Chidambaram, had insisted on spectrum allocation through auction. The Minister has since been under attack.

The issue of an official note to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by then External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on 2G licences was also discussed briefly in the meeting.

Two weeks before a decision was taken to allot new 2G licenses in 2008, Mukherjee had said the Department of Telecom (DoT) may "continue to follow the existing policy" for license distribution till further changes are made.

In an official note to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who sought his views on "Telecom Licences and Spectrum Issues", Mukherjee also suggested a transparent framework for granting spectrum and that the criteria for the grant of licences may be strengthened and put in public domain at the earliest.

Mukherjee at that time was also heading the Group of Ministers (GoM) on spectrum related issues.

The note was accessed through RTI.