New Delhi:
The Supreme Court today pulled up Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal for criticising the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on the 2G spectrum scam. Sibal had called the CAG report 'erroneous', saying there was no loss to the government in the 2G spectrum allocation.
The report by CAG, the government's auditor, said losses from the allocation of 2G spectrum in 2008 could add upto Rs 1.76 lakh crore. The report pushed A Raja to resign as Telecom Minister in November.
(Read: What is 2G spectrum scam?)Sibal, who replaced Raja, had on January 8 described the CAG report as "completely erroneous". While adding that he respects the CAG, Sibal said, "We believe the exercise (by CAG) was fraught with very serious errors which resulted in a kind of sensationalism which has allowed the Opposition to spread utter falsehood to the people of India and we object to it."
"We are extremely pained at the methodology adopted by CAG. Some figures have no basis whatsoever. But it is human to err and to err is human," Sibal had added.
(Watch)The court called the statement 'unfortunate' and directed the CBI to go ahead with the probe into the scam without getting influenced by any body's statement. It was hearing a petition filed by Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy that Sibal's statement may influence CBI probe.
"It is unfortunate. The minister should behave with some sense of responsibility," the bench of Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly said.
"In our opinion, the CBI which is conducting investigation into the 2G scam is expected to carry out the probe without being influenced by the statement made by anybody, anywhere, including the press," the bench added. (With PTI Inputs)