The court said a 'scam was created when there was none'.
The CAG report had alleged the government had passed on financial gains of Rs 1.86 lakh crore to private companies by not auctioning the coal blocks.
India discard Virender Sehwag scored a breezy 48 off just 20 balls as CAG (Comptroller &Auditor General of India) were involved in a tie with Mumbai Customs, in a concluding Group C league match of the Rs 12 lakh tenth All India Dr D.Y. Patil T20 Cup, organised by the D.Y Patil Sports Academy, under the auspices of the Mumbai Cricket Association, at the D Y Patil Stadium, in Nerul, Mumbai, on Wednesday.
The text of Telecom and Communications Minister Kapil Sibal's statement defending Home Minister P Chidambaram on his alleged involvement in the 2G spectrum scam, on behalf of the United Progressive Alliance government
Modi took on Gandhi for mocking him for chanting 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' at every meeting. The prime minister said he will continue to do so despite Gandhi's 'fatwa' on it.
The Committee of Administrators headed by ex-CAG Vinod Rai shall demit office after elected office-bearers of BCCI take charge, the Supreme Court said.
DMK leader T R Baalu has given the notice for a special discussion, saying the reports appearing in the media showed that the loss figure in the 2G issue had been "inflated exponentially".
In an interview with CNN-IBN's National Bureau Chief Bhupendra Choubey, Public Accounts Committee Chairman Murali Manohar Joshi talks about the probe into the 2G spectrum scam and the government's flip flop on Comptroller and Auditor General report. Following is the transcript of the interview
As the rupee depreciated to a new 32-month low against the US dollar, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday said the Reserve Bank is monitoring the situation and will intervene in the forex market "as and when necessary".
In another huge embarrassment to the government after the 2G fiasco, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has estimated a Rs 10.6 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.
Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy on Monday rejected senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi's attack on Home Minister P Chidambaram on the issue of CAG indictment of his ministry for alleged favours to private firms, saying such attacks would harm decision making at higher levels.
Left parties and the Telugu Desam Party on Monday demanded cancellation of allocation of all the 142 coal blocks and a thorough enquiry into the matter and attacked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his remarks against the CAG.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi who heads the Public Accounts Committee in Parliament has said that the prime minister's offer to depose before the committee is being considered. Joshi said that the Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai had not been summoned, but was a partt of the committee's proceedings.
Changing tracks helps. But, not taking the beaten path isn't always helpful. This is the story of two of India's biggest privatisations - Air India and Bharat Petroleum (BPCL). Nearly two decades after the last privatisation, a landmark divestment concluded this year when the loss-making national carrier Air India was sold to the Tatas.
Rejecting Finance Minister P Chidambaram's zero-loss theory in coal allocation scam because no mining was done, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday said his view was akin to Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal's repudiation of CAG's estimation of presumptive loss in allocation of 2G spectrum.
According to reports, CAG has sought details from the department of telecommunication on the total available spectrum in the country and how much has been allocated to private telecom operators from 2000 onward and at what value.
Finalising calendar for the 2020-21 home season of the Indian cricket team, appointment of ethics officer and release of funds to Indian Cricketers' Association (ICA) will be among the items on agenda at BCCI's second Apex Council meeting, in New Delhi, on Sunday. The Apex Council, which had its first and only meeting so far on November 30, is required to meet at least once in three months.
Modi said that these problems are 'deep-rooted' and must be addressed collectively for which he is open to suggestions.
With around 30 out of the 36 units becoming Lodha Compliant, it is learnt that majority of them have come on board to build consensus about a few modifications that Amicus Curiae P S Narsimha is expected to submit to the Supreme Court.
India national team and Bengaluru FC footballer, CK Vineeth was given the pink slip by Kerala Accountant General for lack of attendance
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley on Wednesday demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for 'failing to take action' against former telecom minister A Raja for over three years in connection with the spectrum scam. Speaking at the massive rally organised by the NDA, Jaitley ridiculed Dr Singh's offer to appear before the PAC. "The PAC has a limited role. It can only go into the statistics and report of the CAG," he said.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the Board of Control for Cricket in India's petition seeking review of the court verdict validating Lodha Panel recommendations.
The Bharatiya Janata Party lined up several promises, including a legislation to protect traditions of the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala and a law against "love jihad", while assuring employment for at least one person from each family and free laptops to high school students, in its manifesto for the assembly polls unveiled in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday.
CAG said that Reliance Infocomm and Tata Tele Services Ltd have caused a loss of Rs 184 crore to 3 state-run insurance firms between 2002-05 on risk cover for mobile handsets and default payments.
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.
All cases that were registered last year during will be pursued.
"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.
That the MVA government, comprising Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and Congress completed a year in office despite frequent murmurs of lack of coordination among the ruling alliance partners is being attributed to the rapport between Thackeray, 60, and NCP patriarch Sharad Pawar.
With his resignation as telecom minister, A Raja appeared to have saved himself from any mention in the Supreme Court today in the controversial 2G case, with petitioners seeking more time to file submissions on the report of the CAG that is to be placed in Parliament.
The praise comes a year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed it a 'monument of UPA's failures'.
The decision to enhance AI fleet came after Tatas withdrew from the race to pick up stake in the national carrier in December 2001.
Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday said Justice S Muralidhar of the Delhi high court was transferred on the recommendation of the Supreme Court collegium and accused the Congress of politicising a routine transfer. He added that a "well-settled process" was followed in the transfer of Justice Muralidhar to the Punjab and Haryana high court.
Bharatiya Janjata Party veteran L K Advani's suggestion for a collegium to appoint Election Commissioners and Comptroller and Auditor General was on Tuesday backed by United Progressive Alliance ally Dravida Munetra Kazhagam and opposition Communist Party of India-Marxist.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's core group decided that it will demand the resignation of Telecom Minister A Raja in the wake of his reported indictment by CAG in 2G spectrum allocation and reiterate its demand for JPC probe into the issue as also CWG and Adarsh housing society scams.
"Political will can reform but bureaucracy performs and public participation transforms. We have to bring them on one wavelength," Prime Minister Narendra Modi told bureaucrats on civil services day.
"I want to reiterate that I went as per the telecom policy of 1999, as per recommendations of Telecom and Regulatory Authority of India and vision contemplated by the government. If there have been any procedural lapses. Let it be investigated. No problem at all," Raja told reporters here two days after he unceremoniously put in his papers.
With his new book creating a major controversy, former Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai on Tuesday said he has nothing personal against former prime minister Manmohan Singh, but all the "acclaim and the blame" has to be taken by the head of the government.
Rajya Sabha was briefly adjourned on Tuesday following an uproar by AIADMK over Telecom Minister A Raja's role in Second Generation or 2G spectrum allocation that allegedly led to heavy loss of revenue to the government.
As per norms, sanction for prosecution of government employees accused of corruption has to be given within four months' stipulated time.
In its report for the year ended March 31, 2008, the CAG has expressed serious concern over deficiencies like 'non-provision of the envisaged job guarantee to rural poor, fake payment of wages and delay in payment of wages to labourers'.
