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| PAC summons Tata, Anil Ambani, Radia in 2G probe |
| BS Reporter / New Delhi Mar 29, 2011, 00:51 IST |
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The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament has summoned leading industrialists like Tata Group Chairperson Ratan Tata, Reliance Communications Chairman Anil Ambani and corporate lobbyist Niira Radia on recent developments in the telecom sector, including the allocation of 2G spectrum.
It is learnt that officials of other telecom companies, including Bharti Airtel, STel, and Unitech Group, have also been called to appear before the PAC on April 4 and 5. Unitech’s Sanjay Chandra, Etisalat DB’s Vinod Goenka and STel’s Sivasankaran has also been called.
According to people close to the development, the PAC will meet on April 4 and 5 to discuss the 2G spectrum allocation case, which led to the resignation of former communications minister A Raja in November 2010. He was later arrested and is still under custody.
In a statement, a Tata Sons spokesperson said, “R N Tata has expressed his willingness to appear before PAC on
April 4 in connection with the recent developments in the sector, including allocation of 2G and 3G spectrum.” In another statement, a Reliance spokesperson also said, “Anil Ambani welcomes the opportunity to appear before PAC.”
Radia is chairperson of Vaishnavi Corporate Communications, which has Tata Group and Reliance as its clients.
A spokesperson from Vaishnavi Corporate Communications said, “We continue to extend our cooperation and will be present before the PAC to answer queries and present any clarifications.”
According to agencies, PAC Chairperson Murli Manohar Joshi, as well as several members of the panel had expressed satisfaction and happiness with the deposition made by senior journalists Vinod Mehta (Outlook) and Manu Joseph (Open), who had first written about the 2G controversy including the Radia tapes.
The chief of Etisalat DB (earlier Swan Telecom), Shahid Usman Balwa, was also arrested in the ongoing 2G spectrum case. CBI is investigating the whole matter and the Supreme Court is monitoring the probe.
PAC has also sought details from the Department of Telecommunications on issues of 2G spectrum allocation and other developments in the sector. The details have been sought on side-tracking the views and concerns of the Ministry of Finance by Raja, the first-come, first-served policy and ignoring the advice of the Ministry of Law and Justice to refer the issue of new licences in 2007 to the group of ministers (GoM). PAC has also asked for the reasons for not delinking spectrum from the licence.
A Joint Parliamentary Committee has also been set up to look into all the details of the 2G spectrum allocation in 2008 and in the telecom sector from 1998 onwards.
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