Kapil Sibal, Minister of Telecommunications and IT has said that deviation from policies while awarding 2G spectrum started in 2003 when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA government was in power, according to news reports. The minister also said the improper policy of first-come-first-served basis to allocate spectrum was also started during this time.
Prior to this, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had suggested in 2003 that additional telecom players could be introduced through multi-stage bidding process and the cabinet accepted it in 2003. But the NDA did not follow the same. Sibal also questioned why this was being overlooked by opposition parties while blaming the United Progressive Alliance government under Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, which took charge in May 2004, for the spectrum issue.
Sibal’s comments come after the arrest of his predecessor A. Raja, who was the telecom minister until November 7, 2010, when he was forced to resign in the wake of an audit report. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India had said Raja’s policies on spectrum allocation had resulted in the loss of between $12.8 billion and $40 billion to the exchequer.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had arrested Raja, former telecom secretary Siddartha Behura and Raja’s personal secretary R.K. Chandolia on two counts, misuse of office in allocation of spectrum and amassing wealth much higher than the known and legal sources of their income.
