The one-man committee of Justice Shivraj Patil, a retired Supreme Court judge, which was probing procedural lapses in the issuance of 2G licences, on Monday submitted its report to communications minister Kapil Sibal naming the officials involved in the 2G scam.
It is learnt that the committee named former communications minister A. Raja and former telecom secretary Siddartha Behura for procedural lapses in the allocation of 2G licences in 2008. The report is also learnt to have named Mr Raja’s private secretary R.K. Chandolia, former DDG (access service) A.K. Srivastava and a former joint secretary in the department of telecom. In all, seven to eight officials have been blamed in the report for the procedural lapses, sources said.
Justice Patil confirmed that he had named officials in the reports for lapses over the allocation of 2G licences, but refused to reveal any names. “I have identified the officials on whose part there was deficiency or lapses. One of the terms of reference is if there are any shortcomings or lapses or deficiencies in procedures, who are the public officials responsible — (that) they must be identified. This I have done,” said Justice Patil after submitting the report to Mr Sibal.
He was of the view that these officials should be called by the department to give their version before any action is taken against them. “It is for the government, if at all they want to propose action, to take the appropriate step,” he said.
Justice Patil was tasked with probing the appropriateness of procedures followed in issuance of 2G licences and spectrum in 2001-2009. It is still not clear if he has commented on the issuance of spectrum during the BJP-led government.
“Some people have been named and some procedures commented upon. What the future course of action should be for grant of spectrum has been commented upon,” said Mr Sibal. He said the ministry will go through the report and then announce what action will be taken.
The report runs into 150 pages, with its annexures covering 1,300 pages.
The committee was set up after Mr Raja was indicted by the comptroller and auditor-general in its report. The CAG report had said the former minister, Mr Raja, had deviated from his department’s policy to favour a few firms in granting 2G licences in 2008, which led to a loss of `1.76 lakh crores to the national exchequer. It also said seven private firms, including Bharti Airtel, Reliance, Vodafone, Idea and Aircel, had got additional spectrum beyond the contractual limit of 6.2 MHz free. The CAG had estimated that issuance of spectrum beyond the contractual limit had resulted in a loss of `36,993 crores to the exchequer.