FinMin wasn’t kept in the loop
The CBI probe into alleged irregularities committed in awarding telecom licences during the tenure of the late Pramod Mahajan as communications minister has revealed that accused former officials of the department of telecommunications (DoT) did not even consult the finance ministry while deciding the prices for additional spectrum.
The FIR, filed by the CBI in connection with its probe related to irregularities committed in awarding spectrum licences during Mahajan’s tenure, said, “Mr Shyamal Ghosh, the then secretary, telecom, did not even wait for the comments of the then member (finance) of the telecom department, who usually acted as one of the representatives of the ministry of finance, for deciding the percentage of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) to be charged from the telecom operators for allocation additional spectrum.”
The FIR, filed by the CBI on November 19, further said, “Even other important officials of the DoT did not get an opportunity to see the file related to allocation of additional spectrum. The then wireless adviser of the DoT was bypassed for the reason that he was retiring on the same day.” The final approval was accorded by Mahajan on January 31, 2002, said the FIR. The CBI has named Mr Ghosh, J.R. Gupta, who was the deputy director general (Value Added Services) in the telecom ministry and three cellular companies in the FIR.
Sources in the agency said, “The then minister for telecom and communication has been excluded since he expired. However, probe has revealed that he was a part of criminal conspiracy to allocate the additional spectrum in a hurried manner”. Mr Mahajan was the telecom minister during 2001-03.
“Former officials of the DoT entered into a criminal conspiracy with three beneficiary private companies causing a loss of `508 crore approximately during the period 2001-2007. The agency further alleged that DoT had increased the base spectrum for telecom companies from 6.2 MHz to 10 MHz during Mahajan’s tenure from 2001 to 2003 and also allocated extra spectrum on subscriber-based criteria”, said the FIR.
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