TTSL beneficiary of procedual lapses in 2001 to get BSL: Panel

NEW DELHI: Several extensions for compliance with terms of Letter of Intent (LoI) in absence of enabling provisions in the guidelines may have benefitted Tata Group firm Tata Teleservices (TTSL) in 2001 to get Basic Services Licence in various circles, says the one-man committee report.

The report, which was made public today, said, "...time was extended time and again for several months for TTSL for grant of BSLs in Maharashtra, Haryana, Kerala, Punjab and Rajasthan service areas for compliance with LoI."

The Shivraj V Patil report went into the lapses during the allocation of the 2G Spectrum.

The report, presented to Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal last week, said all decisions on spectrum allocation since 2003, that includes NDA regime, were procedurally wrong.

The report said the extension of time in absence of any enabling provision in the guidelines could lead to arbitrary exercise of power and favouritism subjectively.

The report has named several DoT officials. It said the (TTSL) decision was on the basis of note put by ADG (BS II) Jeet Singh and was endorsed by the then Director (BS II), PK Mittal DDG (BS), RN Goyal Member (P), R Ramanathan Member (F) and Shyamal Ghosh Chairman ( Telecom Commission), without raising any objection and finally getting approved by the Minister.

These identified public officials appear to be responsible for the lapse in the procedure, the report said.