New Delhi, July 6
Treading cautiously on the contentious issues related to spectrum pricing, the government today reconstituted the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) panel on Telecom, which will look into spectrum issues, and has now appointed Home Minister P Chidambaram as its head.

However, while appointing Chidambaram as the head of the EGoM, the government has put a rider on the panel itself. Instead of letting this EGoM take final decisions, the government has mandated that all decisions related to spectrum pricing will be further vetted by the Union Cabinet.

The EGoM has been reconstituted after Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar declined to head the panel earlier this week citing attempts to drag him into controversies.

Pawar's name does not figure as a member of the reconstituted ministerial panel. Defence Minister AK Antony, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal, I&B Minister Ambika Soni, Law Minister Salman Khurshid, Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office V Narayanasamy and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia continue to be the other members of the EGoM.

So, Chidambaram as the head of the EGoM, will merely make recommendations on issues such as the reserve price for 2G auctions and whether existing telecom companies can be charged for spectrum they already hold at new rates, but the final call will be taken by the Union Cabinet.

Sources said no date for the meeting of the EGoM has been fixed yet.

The EGoM was last week reconstituted after Pranab Mukherjee, who was heading it, resigned as Finance Minister to contest the Presidential elections.

Pawar was named as the new Chairman of the ministerial panel and a meeting fixed for July 2. But Pawar first postponed the meeting of the EGoM, which had last met on June 5, and then approached Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declining to head the panel.

Sources said one of the reasons for putting the rider on the EGoM was that Chidambaram’s role as Finance Minister when former telecom Minister A Raja doled out the licences on first-cum-first-serve basis in 2008 was still under a cloud.

Parties like the BJP have been demanding that Chidambaram be formally held accountable for the 2G scam that is being investigated by the CBI.

This would also mean that the government will be able to legitimately claim that a policy decision on spectrum has the full sanction of the Union Cabinet. Any political decision taken by the Cabinet in a transparent manner would also not be questioned by the courts.

Sources said that except for pricing issues, all other matters related to spectrum auctions will be decided by the EGoM. It would also decide whether the reframing of the entire 900 Mhz spectrum should be done immediately or in stages.