Congress today steered clear of the issue of reported loss of Rs 10.7 lakh crore to the exchequer due to coal allocations contending it was not proper to comment on the draft CAG report which has not yet been finalised.
"It is absolutely not right nor possible for me, nor am I going to start commenting on your so called drafts," party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told reporters outside Parliament.
He said even the Comptroller and Auditor General has not finalised or put forth any report as yet.
Asked if there was ever a competitive bidding of the coal blocks, he said, "As far as I know, there has been a policy ....Which is a policy continuing till today from 1993".
The CAG has reportedly estimated a Rs 10.7 lakh crore loss to the exchequer on account of allotment of coal blocks during 2004 to 2009 without auction to 100 private and public sector companies.
In a draft report on allotment of coal blocks that has sparked a political uproar, the official auditor has estimated a "windfall gain" of Rs 6.31 lakh crore (PSUs - Rs 3.37 lakh crore and private parties - Rs 2.94 lakh crore) based on the prices prevailing during the year of allocation on constant cost and price basis and as on March 31, 2011.
The amount at current prices would now work out to Rs 10.67 lakh crore (PSUs - Rs 5.88 lakh crore and private parties - Rs 4.79 lakh crore), the CAG said in the draft report.
The CAG report comes more than a year after its report on the allocation of scarce 2G telecom spectrum on first-come-first-service basis in which it had estimated a presumptive loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer.