The Department of Telecommunication is to set up a one-man Committee to go into the spectrum allocation from 2001. Announcing this at a press conference in New Delhi yesterday, the Communication and IT Minister Mr. Kapil Sibal said that the retired Supreme Court Judge S. Patil will be appointed for the purpose. He said, that the committee will identify instances of lack of transparencies and lapses in the policies on the issue. It will check from the files to see if these policies were violated and will also be looking into the procedures of the DoT in this regard. He said that the Committee will submit its report within four weeks. The panel will also suggest remedies for spectrum allocation. The CBI is already investigating the alleged irregularities in the allocation of 2G Spectrum. Our correspondent says that the former Communication and IT Minister Mr. A. Raja resigned last month after a CAG report was tabled in Parliament on the issue. The report had said that the rates at which the 2G spectrum was allotted resulted in a possible loss to the tune of 1.76 lakh crore rupees to the exchequer. The opposition has been demanding a JPC probe into the issue but the government has rejected it saying that it is politically motivated. The BJP rejected the new 2G probe pannel made by the government. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi party spokesperson Arun Jaitly said that they will not settle for anything less than JPC on 2G spectrum scam.The Congress today rejected the opposition charge that the announcement of one man inquiry to probe spectrum allocation is breach of privilege as it has been done while the parliament is in session. Party spokesman Manish Tewari said that as the opposition is not letting the parliament run and therefore it cannot make accusations of this kind. On the other hand, the opposition insisted that since the inquiry is to be conducted by a Supreme Court retired Judge it cannot be termed as an administrative inquiry. BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi said that the manner in which the announcement was made , it invites breach of privilege.The Samajwadi Party leader Mohan Singh also expressed similar sentiments.
News On AIR | December 10, 2010 1:48 PM
Retired SC Judge to probe spectrum allocation system from 2001