The CAG today said, 2G spectrum allocation had caused huge revenue loss to the government as the then Telecom Minister A Raja had ignored the advice of the prime minister besides those of ministries of law and finance. The CAG report tabled in Parliament has highlighted that the entire process of allocation of Unified Access Service licences lacked transparency and was undertaken in an arbitrary, unfair and inequitable manner, flouting every canon of financial propriety, rules and procedures. Briefing reporters the Deputy CAG Rekha Gupta said that due diligence was not followed and even the recommendations of the telecom regulator TRAI were not followed in spirit.The report said the presumptive loss caused to the exchequer through spectrum allocation to 122 licensees and 35 dual technology licenses in 2007-08 was 1,76,645 crore rupees. It pegged the figures on the basis of 3G auction held earlier this year in which the government mopped up over 67,000 crore rupees. She said that said there is an imperative need to fix responsibility and enforce accountability for the lapses highlighted in the audit report. The government auditor said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had stressed on the need for a fair and transparent allocation of spectrum while the ministry of finance had sought for the decision regarding spectrum pricing to be considered by an EGoM.The report said brushing aside their concerns and advices, the Department of Telecommunications, in 2008, proceeded to issue 122 new licences for 2G spectrum at 2001 prices. She said that the department of telecom did not do the requisite due diligence in the examination of the applications submitted for the licences, leading to the grant of 85 out of 122 licences to the ineligible applicants as all these firms did not have stipulated paid-up capital at the time of application. It also points out 45 out of 85 licencees were issued to companies which failed to satisfy conditions of main object clause in the memorandum of Association.The Deputy CAG said the process of giving dual technology licences to leading telecom firms including Reliance Communications and Tata Tele services lacked transparency and fairness, and equal opportunity was denied to other similarly placed operators who could apply for use of dual technology only after formal announcement of the policy. The report also noted that the ministry of communication and IT decided to go ahead with arbitrarily deciding that the cut-off date for issuance of Letters of Intent would be advanced to September 25, 2007 and applications received would be decided on first-come first-serve basis.The report highlighted that the law ministry had suggested setting up of an Empowered Group of Ministers to discuss the large number of applications and spectrum pricing, but the telecom ministry rejected it saying the need for forming and EGoM arises when a new policy is being framed and in this particular issue no new policy for grant of unified access service licences is being framed.