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The government today justified the audit of telecom companies by CAG as they had stalled proper audits for 16 years. They claimed that the documents sought for under law were “sensitive information”.
They also went to the TDSAT several times to get orders and then moved the Supreme Court where the appeals are still awaiting a final decision.
Contradicting the telecom operators’ argument that there was no revenue sharing agreement between the government and them, Additional Solicitor General Paras Kuhad insisted that the firms were functioning under specific terms of the telecom laws and notifications. The government’s revenue is related to the profit made by them.
He said that in one year alone, 2006-2007, two telecom giants were subjected to special audit and it was found that the exchequer was losing in crores of rupees. There were discrepancies in the revenue and when the Department of Telecom asked for data for verification, they refused to cooperate till today.
There was no audit after that because of the litigation at various levels and the refusal of the companies to disclose what was statutorily required of them.
“We are not asking them about their general business, but only information they are obliged to provide under the TRAI Act,” counsel said.
When the bench headed by Justice K S Radhakrishnan asked counsel how could this go on for years and are ministers and officials responsible for this situation, Kuhad replied that the companies have stymied all efforts to get them audited. The judges remarked: “It is a Catch-22 situation.” The arguments will continue next week.
The telecom operators under the banner of Association of United Telecom Service Providers and Cellular Operators Association of India have challenged the Delhi high court ruling that the Comptroller and Auditor General is authorized to audit their accounts. They argue that the CAG audit is unconstitutional.
The high court last month upheld the order issued by the Director General of Audit, Post & Telecommunications to all telecom service providers to produce books of accounts and other documents for verification of revenue to the CAG.
