2G scam: PM says he believed Raja, but did anyone check the facts?

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in his interaction with TV editors on Wednesday, outlined three reasons for going along with A Raja's decision of 'no auctions' of 2G spectrum, apart from the fact that he trusted the former telecom minister's word that he was being transparent and fair.

The PM said the regulator, Trai, did not want auctions and Raja went along; that the Telecom Commission had approved the decisions; and the finance ministry was in concurrence with the 2001 pricing. That Trai didn't recommend auctions is incorrect. The CAG, in Section 3.1.4 of its November 2010 report, and the Shivraj Patil one-man commission (OMC), in Section 2.48 of its report have shown that Trai recommended "multi stage bidding" (auctions) as far back as 2003.

The CAG, in Section 3.2.1 added that Trai in 2007 had stated that entry fee benchmarked on 2001 prices was incorrect and that it needed to be reassessed through a market mechanism. These facts could have been checked from the Trai website.

Besides, the Trai's recommendations are not binding on the government. The OMC report in Section 2.19, confirms the powers of the government in this regard. The fact that telecom minister Kapil Sibal has already announced a policy shift from ''first-come, first-served'' (FCFS) to auctions for future allocation of 2G spectrum also bears out this fact. In other words, this authority could have been exercised in 2007.

Raja's claim that the Telecom Commission had approved the recommendations could also have been cross-checked. The commission consists of four secretaries from outside DoT, including from the ministries of finance, IT, Planning Commission and industry — all easily accessible to the PMO.

The CAG has revealed that far from approving the Trai recommendations, the full Telecom Commission did not even meet between the date of receipt of the Trai recommendations on August 28, 2007 and the issuance of 122 LoIs on January 10, 2008.

The OMC report has revealed that the so-called approval came only from an ''internal Telecom Commission'' which comprised only a set of DoT officials, many of whom are now accused of wrongdoing in the same report. These officials approved without the recommendations being placed before them.

This file noting/decision of November 10, 2007 would also have been available to the PMO for the asking.