CAG report on 2G spectrum tabled in Parliament

The government today tabled in Parliament the CAG report on the 2G spectrum allocation, whose reported extracts have created a political storm and led to the resignation of Telecom Minister A Raja.

The report was placed in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha amid uproar by the Opposition which demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the alleged scam.

It was tabled in the Lower House by Minister of State for Finance S S Palanimanickam, who belongs to the DMK, and in the Upper House by his ministerial colleague Namo Narayan Meena.
    
Raja, who is a member of the Lok Sabha, was not present in the House when the report was tabled as soon as it reassembled at noon after an hour-long adjournment.
    
The report has pegged the revenue loss to the exchequer at Rs 1.76 lakh crore due to non-auctioning of the spectrum in 2008.
    
After the extracts of the report came out in the media, the Opposition launched a blistering attack on the government demanding Raja's removal and a JPC probe.
    
Raja has maintained that he has done no wrong and distributed the licenses as per the policies followed by his predecessors since 1999.
    
He initially refused to resign but finally quit on Sunday after intense pressure.


The CAG quantified the presumptive loss of spectrum allocated in 2008 at Rs 1,76,645 crore, based on the auction held for 3G radiowaves.

The Telecom Ministry seemed to have circumvented the 'no cap' recommendation of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on a number of licenses to be issued in a circle, said the CAG.