New Delhi, November 19
The Union Telecom ministry, in the eye of a storm for allegedly ‘deliberately under-pricing spectrum’ (radio frequency) for mobile service providers, today hinted that the government might consider ways to recover the loss. Companies had paid Rs 1,651 crore in 2008 for spectrum and broadband access while the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) has put the ‘presumptive loss’ to the exchequer at Rs 1.76 lakh crore.

The telecom sector happens to be the second largest source of revenue for the government after taxes, and needed to be handled with care, said officials. It may not be wise, they added, to cancel 69 licences as recommended by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India ( TRAI) yesterday. Kapil Sibal, who is holding charge of the ministry following the resignation of A. Raja in the wake of the CAG report, said a final decision would be taken after the TRAI recommendations are reviewed.

The ministry also disclosed that 51 licences were issued by the NDA government also between 2001 and 2004. A TRAI report of 2007 and the National Telecom Policy of 1999 also firmed up the revenue-sharing policy for allocation of spectrum.

While the government today asked Attorney General GE Vahanvati to represent the Prime Minister in the Supreme Court, Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium, who represented the PM in the last two hearings, claimed that the decision was motivated by a desire for better coordination. The petitioner and Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy, who had sought the court’s directive to the PM for giving permission to file a case against Raja, indicated that he would oppose the AG , who, he said, had given legal advice to Raja before the spectrum allocation in 2008.

Sibal also mounted a spirited defence of the Prime Minister and declared that there was no question of allowing prosecution before an investigation. The PM had done no wrong , he asserted, and the media and the opposition had taken an observation made in the Supreme Court and blown it out of context, he alleged.

The CAG , he pointed out, had questioned spectrum allocation in 1999 also and calculated losses to the exchequer then. “ But the NDA did not refer the matter to a Joint Parliamentary Committee then,” he added and said that the CAG report would be looked into by the Public Accounts Committee ( PAC) headed by a member of the Opposition, as is the practice.

Both Sibal and the Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee reiterated that the government was ready to discuss the issue and make a statement, if only the Opposition allows Parliament to proceed. Both Houses of the Parliament were again adjourned today after the Opposition stalled proceedings demanding a JPC probe into the scam.