The Telecom Ministry on Thursday told the Supreme Court that the government auditor, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, did not have the authority to question the policy decision as per which licence were issued to new players in 2008.
The assertion comes within a day of Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai stating that the CAG has submitted its report on 2G spectrum.
The counter affidavit filed in the Supreme Court on Thursday said that all decisions with regard to 2G spectrum allocation in 2008 were taken as per government policy that was being followed by all his predecessors since 1999.
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The Ministry said that the CAG had similar harsh observations even in 1999 when the operators were migrated from fixed licence fee to a revenue sharing regime.
“As no finding was given by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the successive governments followed the same policy, including the present Minister A. Raja,” the affidavit said.
The affidavit gave account of communication between Mr. Raja and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as well as other Ministries.
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“Therefore, it is respectfully submitted that the allotment process in 2007-08 was correct as per law and in keeping with the extant policy and procedures,” the Telecom Ministry said in the affidavit.
Besides the CAG, the CBI is also looking into the matter.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had pulled up the CBI for its tardy progress in the investigations into alleged irregularities.