The Supreme Court on Friday severely criticised Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal for making statements undermining the Comptroller and Auditor General of India's report on the 2G spectrum scam and asked him to behave with some sense of responsibility.
In an interview with Karan Thapar on the CNN-IBN channel's Devil's Advocate programme, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia explains why he faults the controversial report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on 2G telecom spectrum allocation. Edited excerpts:
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Parliament's Public Accounts Committee Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi hit out at Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal for questioning the Comptroller and Auditor General report on the 2G Spectrum scam. He said that Sibal's comments showed both the PAC and the CAG in poor light and said that the telecom minister's conduct was unbecoming.
Whether Sibal has effectively defended Raja or not as a counsel is unclear, but his target seems to be the prime minister, feels M R Venkatesh.
The government on Friday asked the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to suggest ways to curb its rising subsidy bill on food, fertiliser and petroleum products without hurting the targetted population.
There is nothing sinister or diabolic about Union minister Kapil Sibal's latest argument regarding the findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India pertaining to the loss to the exchequer from 2G telecom licences in 2007.
Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai has asked Public Accounts Committee Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi for permission to react to Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal\\'s open attack on him over the 2G report, according to sources.
It is because of the Comptroller & Auditor General that we know all isn't well in the murky world of government purchases and the allocation of resources.
Stung by the CAG's interim report which has found discrepancies in some deals, the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee (OC) on Thursday defended its broadcasting rights deal with Fast Track despite a high commission paid to them, saying the UK company had doubled the revenue target.
The Planning Commission has decided that approvals for all social sector projects undertaken by various non-government organisations, normally outside the purview of CAG, will come with the rider that they will be subject to audit, if required.
Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi, under fire for his alleged involvement in financial improprieties related to the Commonwealth Games, on Wednesday said he is ready to face any Comptroller and Auditor General or judicial probe into the financial transactions.
The government has decided to issue biometric PAN (Permanent Account Number) cards to taxpayers across the country to weed out the problem of duplicate and fake ones.
He may be cooling his heels in Delhi's Tihar Jail for his alleged involvement in the 2G scam, but the developmental work and the projects he executed in this reserved constituency are the main plank of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which is facing a tough competition from arch-rival All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
2G Scam: SC ticks off CBI for not questioning Raja
The day after the closing ceremony, the Prime Minister's Office had asked the OC to make sure all documents were kept safe.
With the heat over the 2G telecom spectrum scam rising, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Thursday recommended the cancellation of 34 telecom licences of companies, including Etisalat, Uninor, Loop Telecom and Siestema, due to non-compliance of roll-out obligations.
The department of telecommunications (DoT) will soon start looking into the issue of ineligibility of recent licensees such as Unitech, Loop and Datacom, in the wake of the Comptroller and Auditor-General's scathing report. And, take action, if it thinks it is required.
The Comptroller and Auditor General's report on the 2G spectrum scam has been tabled in Parliament. The report was tabled in the Rajya Sabha by Minister of State for Finance (EB&I) Namo Narayan Meena. The report was placed in the Loks Sabha by Minister of State for Finance (Revenue) SS Palanimanickam.
Amid growing attack on Telecom Minister A Raja over alleged scam in spectrum allocation, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to take a decision on his continuance in the Union Cabinet after his return from Seoul on Friday, highly placed sources said.
With Joint Parliamentary Committee chairman P C Chacko stating that the Parliament Accounts Committee should confine itself to the Comptroller and Auditor General report on 2G spectrum allocation, PAC chief Murli Manohar Joshi on Wednesday refused to join issue with him. He said Chacko should give his suggestions in writing.
With the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament on a questioning spree in 2G spectrum scam case, it has not gone down well with Joint Parliamentary Committee chairman PC Chacko who feels that the PAC has gone beyond its mandate, and wants a 'conflict' to be avoided. Chacko underlined that the PAC's mandate was limited to looking into accounting irregularities in the 2G spectrum allocation as highlighted by the comptroller and auditor general, and it should not give an impres
'We don't have any agenda in that, there will be no discrimination against anyone. Constitution will be Gita in that'
Navy has refused to disclose any details about procurement of six phased-out helicopters from the US worth Rs 182 crore for which it recently received a rap from the Comptroller and Auditor General.
The structure and the exact mandate of the high-level committee set up to probe the alleged financial irregularities related to the conduct of the Commonwealth Games 2010 remain unclear even a week after the setting up of the panel was announced.
The opposition party also said that it would be improper on the part of Mehrishi to present the report in Parliament.
In a draft audit report on the KG-DWN-98/3, or KG-D6, block, the Comptroller and Auditor General said the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons allowed Reliance to hike capital expenditure for developing Dhirubhai-1 and 3, the largest of 18 gas finds in the block, by 117 per cent.
Reliance Industries may ask the government for a refund of its investment if it is forced to give up any part of the prolific KG-D6 block as it has spent a huge sum of money on exploration after obtaining necessary permission to retain the entire 7,645-sq km area.
In its communication to DoT, the DGA said the department had granted new unified access service licences to certain companies without proper verification of their eligibility and other credentials.
Indifferent attitude towards withdrawal of uneconomical stoppages, "injudicious" creation of passenger amenities and failure to augment coaches on time have led the Railways to incur a total loss of Rs 79 crore, Comptroller and Auditor General said its report for 2009-10.
"There has to be a transparent mechanism, where equal treatment is meted out to all. the 3G spectrum auction last year has shown that auction of spectrum is the best way forward," Pitroda said.
Amidst the controversy over its figures of revenue loss on account of allocation of 2G spectrum, government auditor, the Comptroller and Auditor General, on Monday said it stood by the report submitted to Parliament late last year.
The solicitor general said that the PM CARES Fund is a 'voluntary fund'. "It is a public trust. It is a body where you can make voluntary contributions and no budgetary allocations to the NDRF or SDRF are being touched. What has to be spent will be spent," the law officer said.
Apex auditor CAG on Friday lamented that private telecom operators are not providing their account books to it, despite a request from the government.
Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai on Monday briefed the Public Accounts Committee about his report in the 2G spectrum allocation. His report on a presumptive loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore in 2G spectrum allocation had created a storm in Parliament and outside. The PAC, headed by Bharatiya Janata Party veteran leader Murli Manohar Joshi, is examining the controversial allocation of 2G radio waves and Rai apprised the committee of how the audit looked into the whole issue.
Former Telecom Minister A Raja was being questioned again at the headquarters of the Central Bureau of Investigation in New Delhi on Saturday in connection with alleged irregularities in the allocation of 2G spectrum to certain telecom firms.
With over half the Plan funds that Parliament approves being spent through non-government channels, to cite the figure in CAG Vinod Rai's presentation to the Planning Commission, members of the Parliament have no way of knowing whether the money is properly spent.
Even after 10 years of its production, the indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv still depends heavily on imports as most of its components are procured from foreign sources, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said.
Slamming the Defence Ministry over the nine-year delay in awarding contract to French firm Thales to build six Scorpene submarines in Mumbai, a Parliamentary Committee on Wednesday said the indecisiveness resulted in cost overruns and undue favour to the vendor, besides adversely impacting Navy's operational preparedness.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it would hear after two weeks the applications which have raised issues relating to the Board of Control for Cricket in India. The matter came up for hearing before a bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justice L Nageswara Rao.
Former Telecom Minister A Raja today questioned in the Supreme Court the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) finding that the exchequer had suffered a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore in the allocation of 2G spectrum, terming the figure as "mind boggling and speculative".
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