Report on 2G Scam –
1.
Parliament's Public Account Committee (PAC) was headed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Murli Manohar Joshi and is investigating the 2G scam
2.
The PAC has 22 members from different political parties
3.
The current Pac’s term expires on April 30. The new PAC will again be headed by Mr. Joshi.
4.
Parliament's Public Account Committee (PAC) has reportedly given a clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the 2G spectrum scam.
5.
The committee has also alleged that telecom minister A Raja presented half truths to the Prime Minister.
6.
PAC has recommended that all 2G licenses should be scrapped.
7.
The PAC says the finance minister pleaded with the Prime Minister to treat the matter as closed. Chidambaram was the finance minister from May 23, 2004 to November 30, 2008.
8.
Licenses were issued on 10th January 2008. The file was resubmitted to the Prime Minister on 15th January 2008 with a clarification note. The file was received back by the private secretary to the Prime Minister with the note that "The PM wants this to be informally shared with the department and does not want formal communication and wants PMO to be at arms length".
9.
The report says the Prime Minister on January three, 2008 wanting to keep the PMO at "arm's length" seemed to have given an "indirect green signal" to Raja to go ahead and "execute his unfair, arbitrary and dubious designs".
10.
The PAC has also accepted the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) figure of Rs 1.76 lakh Crore loss to the national exchequer due to the faulty allocation process of 2G spectrum adopted by the Telecom Ministry.
11.
The PAC has also recommended that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) should be strengthened and all the future licenses to be rolled out through TRAI.
12.
PAC report also said that "The Prime Minister was in fact misled when he was informed by the minister (Raja) that the issue of auction of spectrum was considered but not recommended by the Telecom Commission and also not recommended by TRAI. The minister was saying half truth, concealing the other half, concealing his ulterior design
13.
The PMO was very much aware of law minister's suggestions but the counter view of the communication minister got overriding preference to the law minister's view for some unknown reasons and thus no effort was made by the PMO to initiate the process of constitution of the EGoM.
14.
"The PMO certainly either failed to see the forebodings or was rendered a mute spectator," the report said
15.
The 22 members of the committee are meant to meet tomorrow to discuss this draft report.
Reality Views by sm-
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Suggested Reading –
PAC - Understand functions, powers and constitution of PAC - Public Accounts Committee
http://realityviews.blogspot.com/2010/12/pac-understand-functions-powers-and.html
Keyword Tag - PAC Report on 2G Scam Joshi PMO Parliament's Public Account Committee (PAC) Report on 2G Scam –
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