The office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said it will not react to telecom minister Kapil Sibal’s comments on its report on the 2G licensing issue.
A CAG statement said it cannot respond to media reports “on comments made by others on the report of the 2G spectrum allocation, as it was under discussion of the Parliamentary Accounts Committee.” The meetings of the PAC on the 2G spectrum audit report began on December 27.
“As per para 1.12 of the rules of the parliamentary procedure, when any matter is under consideration by a parliamentary committee and the committee is holding its sittings for that purpose, no person including a Member of Parliament, should make or publish a statement or comment about that matter,” the statement said.
“Making public comments on the matter which is being considered by a parliamentary committee is highly improper and may even amount to contempt of the House.”
Further clarifying its position, the CAG said once the report was placed on the Table of the House, it becomes a public document and the officers of CAG then hold a press conference to explain their findings on that particular report.
Telecom minister Kapil Sibal had earlier hit out at the findings of the CAG on the 2G spectrum audit report, and had called the assessed loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore only presumptive.
Meanwhile, coming out in support of the CAG, Murli Manohar Joshi, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), said the improper remarks of Sibal had hurt the dignity of the government auditor. He said the committee members had asked him to take measures so that such instances do not happen again.
“The sense of the committee was that remarks by telecom minister Kapil Sibal were improper, against propriety and an attack on the dignity of PAC and CAG,” Joshi told reporters after a meeting of the PAC. Joshi said Sibal had the forum of the committee to make any observation or suggestion on the report of the CAG on the alleged irregularities.
DoT extendspanel tenure
The department of telecommunications (DoT) has extended the tenure of the one-member committee investigating the 2G spectrum allocation procedures and policies for the 2001-2009 period. A statement issued by DoT today said the panel’s tenure has been extended to January 31.
