The Government on Monday announced that all past wrongs committed by any senior functionary in the government will be thoroughly probed and no one will be shielded.
“I want to convey that our Government is very keen that all these past wrongs must be properly investigated. The Government will fully support those investigations, and the Government will not shield anyone,” Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad announced in the Lok Sabha.
The Minister’s statement came after AIADMK member M Thambidurai wanted to know what action the government was taking against the alleged illegal establishment of a telephone exchange at the premises of former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran when he was in office.
Prasad said CBI is investigating the matter and he would be able to inform the House about the progress of the probe only after collecting detailed information.
“When investigation is going on, it will not be appropriate for me to take up this matter here. As regards the other complicity of certain officers at the Departmental level, with regard to that transaction, I will surely get a report and I will furnish it,” he said.
Earlier, raising the issue, Thambidurai said more than 360 illegal telephone lines were allegedly illegally connected to the house of Maran and these were used for the benefit of the Maran family—controlled Sun TV network in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.
He claimed that there was at least a Rs 1,000-crore loss to the exchequer due to the “illegal” setting up of the telephone exchange.
Replying to another question, the Telecom Minister said the government has imposed a fine to the tune of Rs 2,923 crore on various telecom service providers for not following the subscriber verification process strictly.
Of the amount, he said, Rs 732 crore has been collected so far while the rest is under various stages of litigation.
