Spectrum decisions since 2003-08 were wrong: Panel

All decisions on spectrum allocation since 2003 by successive governments, including the UPA, were procedurally wrong, concluded the one-man committee, which probed into the procedural lapses following the telecom scam.

Unveiling the report of the Shivraj V Patil committee, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said here today that the findings on procedural lapses are being sent to the Central Bureau of Investigation, which is looking into the criminal culpability in the scam.

Addressing a press conference a day after the arrest of former telecom minister A Raja, Sibal said his predecessor had said that he was "not deviating from the previous policies (the NDA government) but the problem was that the previous policies were wrong".

Quoting the report, Sibal said the committee found that original spectrum allocation was "bad" and procedures were not followed both during the NDA government till 2004 and the UPA government up to 2008.

It also said the Department of Telecommunitions (DoT) did not follow the advice of the Law Ministry or the views of the Finance Ministry over pricing of spectrum.

The committee has also recommended reforms in allocation of spectrum and penalty on hoarding of the scarce natural resource.

The UPA government is battling, among others, a telecom scam with presumptive losses of over Rs 1.76 lakh crore.

The former telecom minister has been arrested by CBI, which is investigating the case under the supervision of the Supreme Court.