New Delhi: BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi
Friday said that the Supreme Court verdict quashing 2G spectrum allocation to 122 companies is a virtual endorsement of the "draft report" of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC)
headed by him and vindicates his stand.
Welcoming yesterday's Supreme Court decision, the PAC
chairperson insisted that the apex court's observations have
exposed what was earlier brought out in the proceedings of the
Parliamentary panel.
He referred to the controversial "draft report" of the
PAC which was leaked to the media and published by several
newspapers and claimed there were several similarities between
its content and the observations of the Supreme Court.
"The draft report states that spectrum and the license
to use it should be separate. It also said the Finance
Minister had suggested to Prime Minister that what has been
done in 2G spectrum allocation has been done and there was no
need for auction. The report also states that the additional
spectrum given away free to these companies should be
charged," Joshi told reporters.
Asked if this meant the draft report of PAC on 2G
spectrum was authentic, Joshi evaded a direct reply.
Drawing further similarities between the Supreme Court
observations and the PAC draft report, Joshi said both said
the price of 2G spectrum should have been determined through
auction. The report had also called for cancellation of the
licenses, which has been done by the court yesterday.
He maintained that when the Supreme Court observed that
there had been a huge loss to the exchequer, it was in a
manner endorsing the presumptive loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore
arrived at by the CAG and endorsed in the draft report.
PTI
First Published: Friday, February 03, 2012, 21:58