Sibal blames NDA, says all spectrum decisions since 2003-08 were wrong

New Delhi, Feb 4 (ANI): Union Communications and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal on Friday said all decisions on the allocation of 2G spectrum starting from 2003 were incorrect, and added that the first-come-first-served policy was introduced by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government and went against the decision of the cabinet at that time.

Addressing a press conference here, 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.

Unveiling the report by a one-man commission, Justice Shivraj Patil, Sibal said that the findings on procedural lapses are being sent to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is looking into the criminal culpability in the scam.

The Telecom minister further quoting the report 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.

The CBI arrested former Telecom Minister A. Raja along with RK Chandolia and Siddharth Behuria on Wednesday in connection with the scam.

The investigating agency questioned Raja for the fourth time on Wednesday. He was questioned earlier on December 24 and 25 last year and on January 31.

The Supreme Court has asked the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to submit status reports on their investigations into the 2G scam to it by February 10, when the case will come up for hearing.

Earlier this week, a report by a one-man commission, Justice Shivraj Patil, was handed over to Kapil Sibal.

Justice Patil was asked in December to look into whether officials in the Telecom Ministry had, since 1991, violated government procedures and guidelines for allocating spectrum.

The CBI in its first information report had mentioned the loss as Rs.22, 000 crore based on the findings of Central Vigilance Commission, which had referred the case to it.

Raja was forced to resign from Union Cabinet last year after a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) faulted him for undervaluing spectrum to favour companies who were largely ineligible for 2G spectrum, and added that the government had probably lost Rs.1.76 lakh crore in estimated revenue. (ANI)