The Supreme Court has directed the CBI to go ahead with the probe into the 2G spectrum scam without being influenced by anybody's statement.Earlier, Communication and IT Minister Kapil Sibal had described the estimated loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore ‘utterly erroneous’ to the exchequer on account of allocation of 2G spectrum to telecom operators.The apex court said Sibal's statement undermining the CAG's report on the scam was unfortunate. The CAG had estimated a loss of up to Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer in allocation of 2G spectrum during the tenure of former Telecom Minister A Raja but Sibal said that there was no loss at all.The Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee Dr Murli Manohar Joshi has requested Lok Sabha Speaker Meera Kumar to ensure that the authority of PAC and the CAG is not impinged upon by ministers. Referring to Sibal's statement on CAG report, he said the Telecom Ministry was given ample time to give response to CAG's findings.He questioned the timing of the statement when the report has already been tabled in Parliament.Kapil Sibal later said that he meant no disrespect to any institution by his comments on the CAG report on the alleged 2G scam. He, however, said that the Centre needed to respond and welcomed Supreme Court's observation that no one should comment on CAG report. He said if the Supreme Court had made this observation earlier, unnecessary controversy could have been avoided.
News On AIR | January 22, 2011 2:00 PM
Nothing should influence 2G probe: SC to CBI