Hole in Raja's 2G defence, CBI summoned

Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has found out serious instances of irregularity in the allocation of 2G spectrum.

Till date, A Raja , union telecom minister has always referred to TRAI's recommednation in his defence for allocation of 2G spectrum to telecom companies in 1998.

However, Nripendra Mishra's, former TRAI chairman, statement to PAC has put end to this defence of Raja.

Appearing before the panel, Nripen Mishra, former chairman of TRAI, contested the telecom ministry's argument that it merely followed the recommendation of the telecom regulator in not auctioning spectrum.

Mishra said TRAI under him had in its recommendation also stressed that market dynamics had changed since the previous round of allocation of spectrum under NDA in 2003 and in 2007 when Raja handled the exercise, to argue for the need for a method of market discovery of price.

Public Accounts Committee has decided to summon the CBI to elicit its views. The CBI has been investigating the scam, but has been unable to make any significant progress on the issue, prompting the Opposition to allege that pressure from the government had forced it to adopt a “go-slow” stance. It’ll now have to depose before the PAC, which is led by former BJP president Murli Manohar Joshi.

Source: Times of India, Economic Times