Rs 43,523 cr loss due to migration policy: DoT tells JPC -Governance Now

Rs 43,523 cr loss due to migration policy: DoT tells JPC

Ministry of Finance, in 2006, wanted the Committee of Secretaries to discuss allocation of additional spectrum and then refer the matter to a Group of Ministers

PTI | July 8, 2011

The Department of Telecom on Thursday pegged at over Rs 43,500 crore losses incurred by the national exchequer due to the implementation of the migration policy during the NDA regime.

The DoT, which was asked to quantify the losses on account of the migration policy by the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), told the panel that the financial implication due to the change in policy was to the tune of Rs 43,523.92 crore.

The sharp differences between the Ministry of Finance and the Telecom Ministry on the pricing of spectrum also came to the fore at the meeting of the JPC chaired by Congress leader P C Chacko.

The Ministry of Finance, in 2006, wanted the Committee of Secretaries to discuss allocation of additional spectrum and then refer the matter to a Group of Ministers, Chacko told reporters in the Capital.

He said the Ministry of Finance had strongly favoured that pricing of spectrum should be part of the terms of reference of the GoM on the issue but the then Telecom Minister did not agree to it.

Chacko said the Union Cabinet had approved the Terms of Reference for the Group of Ministers (GoM) on allocation of additional spectrum and pricing was not in the terms of reference.

P Chidambaram was at the helm of affairs in the Ministry of Finance then, while Dayanidhi Maran was the Telecom Minister.

Maran felt that the pricing of spectrum was the prerogative of the adminstrative ministry and hence did not favour the matter among the terms of reference of the GoM, Chacko said.

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