JPC clean chit to PM: it’s Raja who ‘misled’ him

The draft report of the JPC also rubbishes the loss figure of Rs. 1.76 lakh crore

NEW DELHI, 21/04/2008: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with Union Minister for Communication and Information technology A Raja at the inauguration of Civil Service Day 2008 at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi, on April 21, 2008 . Photo: V.V. Krishnan

The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) has given a clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 2G spectrum allocation, saying he was “misled” by the then Telecom Minister A. Raja whose assurances stood “belied.” The draft report of the JPC also rubbishes the loss figure of Rs. 1.76 lakh crore estimated by the Comptroller and Auditor General, saying it was “ill-conceived.”

The report, which was circulated among members on Thursday before its adoption on April 25, also accused Mr. Raja of forging the press note of January 7, 2008 after it was seen by the then Solicitor-General G. E. Vahanvati.

“The Committee wish to point out that the procedure” regarding the First-Come-First-Served criteria was a “misrepresentation of facts and in tactic deviation from the existing procedure,” it says. While giving sequence of events, the report says, “the Committee members are inclined to conclude that the Prime Minister was misled about the procedure decided to be followed by the Department of Telecommunications in respect of issuance of UAS licences.”