New Delhi:
The perfect storm of the 2G scam continues to rage.
The Supreme Court has questioned the decision by A Raja to ignore the objections raised by the Prime Minister and others on the allocation of 2G spectrum.
Raja resigned as Telecom Minister earlier this month after a report by the government's auditor blamed him for giving 2G spectrum at clearance prices to companies that were ineligible. The loss - worth Rs. 1.76 lakh crore - constitutes India's largest-ever scam.
"The Prime Minister had made his reservations clear which was not treated with respect. There are requirements of collective responsibility. Government is not like a private business house. Its action has to be reasonable and in public interest," the court said, stressing "In the context of sequence of events, bypassing the Prime Minister was not at all proper."
When the court asked the Solicitor General for his view on Raja bypassing the PM's concerns, Gopal Subramaniam said, "In my opinion, reservations expressed by the PM ought to have been given more importance."
A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) said that the Prime Minister and the Law Minister expressed their reservations about the first-come-first-serve policy that Raja proposed and then implemented for 2G licenses in 2008. The report said that Raja arbitrarily decided to advance by a week the deadline for applications from companies who wanted 2G licences.
The CAG report says the PM, on November 2, 2007, asked Raja to consider "introduction of a transparent methodology of auction wherever legally and technically feasible."
The Law Minister at the time, HR Bhardwaj, had suggested that an empowered Group of Ministers be consulted on the 2G pricing issue and policies. Raja did not accept this advice.