Panel on 2G spectrum gives report, names officials for lapses -Governance Now

Panel on 2G spectrum gives report, names officials for lapses

Upto government to take action : Justice Patil

PTI | February 1, 2011

The one-man panel that went into the procedures for giving 2G spectrum between 2001 and 2009 is understood to have named former Telecom Minister A Raja and some officials close to him as being responsible for lapses in allocation of licences.

Retired Justice Shivraj Patil, who was appointed in November last year by Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal in the wake of CAG report that had found several lapses in 2G spectrum allocation, today submitted the report to the Minister.

"I have identified the officials on whose part there were deficiency or were lapses," he told reporters after submitting the report.

The report is believed to have pointed fingers at public officials, including Raja, and the then Telecom Secretary Siddartha Behura and his aide R K Chandolia. But it was not clear whether ministers and officials in earlier regime have also been blamed.

Patil said he has definitely named people in the report.

Asked whether by "public officials" he implied the role of Raja, he said he would not like comment on specific names.

"I have definitely... One of the terms of reference is if there are any short comings or lapses or deficiencies in procedures applying or following, who are the public officials responsible they must be identified which is what I have done," he said.

"We have identified. It is for the government, if at all they want to propose action, to take appropriate steps," Justice Patil said.

The one-man committee was set up to look into the policies and procedures followed during the distribution of licences in 2001-2009, a period that includes the NDA regime, and ascertain if they were followed in a transparent manner. .

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