No guidelines were violated in the 2G spectrum allotment, and it was the government's conscious policy decision not to go in for auction as the aim was to increase tele-density rather than maximising revenue, the Department of Telecommunications informed the Supreme Court on Thursday.
This was the DoT's response to the petition filed by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation seeking action on the basis of the draft audit report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) that concluded that the scam involving Communications Minister A. Raja caused the exchequer a loss of Rs.1,39,652 crore, and helped a few private persons and companies make a corresponding gain.
The matter will come up before a Bench of Justices G. S. Singhvi and A. K. Ganguly for further hearing on November 15.
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The affidavit maintained that all decisions on the 2G spectrum allocation were taken as per the government policy that had been followed by Mr. Raja's predecessors since 1999, and no loss was caused to the exchequer. It said the decision not to auction the spectrum was taken on the basis of the 1999 National Telecom Policy, and the recommendations of the 10{+t}{+h} and 11{+t}{+h} Plans, and of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). Since 2003, from the time of the National Democratic Alliance government, the first-come-first-served policy was being followed in the spectrum allotment. Furthermore, the guidelines for the Unified Access Service licence regime, issued in November 2003, were also followed.