Apex Court Verdict on 2G Scandal Endorses Justic

BANGALORE: By cancelling the allotment of 122 2G licenses made by the UPA government allegedly after bypassing established norms, the Supreme Court has endorsed most of the findings of a one-m

BANGALORE: By cancelling the allotment of 122 2G licenses made by the UPA government allegedly after bypassing established norms, the Supreme Court has endorsed most of the findings of a one-man committee headed by former SC judge Shivaraj V Patil.

The Union Ministry of Telecommunications, it must be remembered, had appointed  Justice (retd) Patil, also former Karnataka Lokayukta, to look into the procedural lapses, if any, which led to an estimated `1.76 lakh crore revenue loss to the national exchequer.

Speaking to Express, Justice Patil while refusing to react on the Supreme Court verdict admitted that most of his findings were reflected in its order.

It was revealed that the internal procedures adopted by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) were not commensurate with the policies and directions of the Union government on the 2G spectrum allocation.

In its report, the committee headed by him among other things had also recommended to the Union government that the licences be cancelled and that it go in for fresh auction of the spectrum.

The committee which had submitted its report on January 31, 2011, held that the decisions taken by the DoT  (Department of Telecommunications) with regard to the grant of USAL licences from 2003 were neither consistent with the decisions of the Union cabinet dated October 31, 2003, nor with the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

It had also urged that the Central government fine-tune existing rules while allocating scarce resources such as spectrum.

The court order had not only done away with the issue of licenses but had also recommended to the TRAI to re-auction the 2G spectrum strictly in accordance with the extant policies.

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