Amid its squabble with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) over shareholding pattern of companies involved in the 2G spectrum scam, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) is understood to have refused to give any more information on ownerships to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
According to sources in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the ministry has refused to carry out inspection, on behalf of the DoT, of about 300 telcos, including subsidiaries, on shareholding patterns in each of them.
"We have told them that all information regarding shareholding pattern and other details are available on the MCA21 website and they can take it from there. We are not here to carry out inspection for other agencies and then bear the brunt," a senior ministry official said.
Normally, the official said, one can dig out balance sheets of companies for up to 8 years and annual returns are available for 5 preceding years on the MCA21 platform, which mandates companies to upload their documents every year.
"In case, they require older documents, we have asked them to approach the respective companies," the official said.
It is also learnt that the DoT had approached the MCA after the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) asked it to do so to probe further in the multi-crore 2G spectrum scam.