The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has filed a counter-affidavit in the Supreme Court saying the allocation of 2G spectrum in 2008 was done in accordance with the then government policy. The affidavit also said the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), did not have the authority to question the policy decision.
In January 2008, DoT had issued new licences to nine players at a price of Rs 1,651 crore for a pan-India unified access service licence (UASL), which was fixed in 2001.
The counter-affidavit filed in the apex court today said all decisions with regard to 2G spectrum allocation in 2008 were taken on the basis of government policy that was being followed by all his predecessors since 1999.
When contacted, a senior DoT official confirmed filing counter affidavit in the Supreme Court. CAG had recently submitted its report on the allocation of 2G spectrum, which is learnt to have said that the allocation caused a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer.
The report had said the non-auction of 2G spectrum in 2008 might have cost the exchequer up to Rs 1.40 lakh crore, besides over Rs 36,000 crore on account of additional spectrum to existing players beyond 6.2 Mhz.
The ministry said CAG had similar harsh observations even in 1999, when the operators were migrated from a fixed licence fee to the revenue-sharing regime. And the licences, along with start-up 2G spectrum, were also allocated in 2008 according to the same policy, ministry officials said.
“As no finding was given by the Public Accounts Committee, the successive governments followed the same policy, including the present Minister A Raja,” the affidavit said. “Therefore, it is respectfully submitted that the allotment process in 2007-08 was correct as per law and in keeping with the extant policy and procedures,” it added.
Besides CAG, CBI is also probing the matter. Earlier, the Supreme Court had pulled up CBI for its tardy progress in its investigations into the alleged irregularities.
