Kapil Sibal forms committee to probe 2G scam

Union Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday said a one-man committee will be formed to probe the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

?The Ministry has decided to set up a one-man committee comprising of retired judge of Supreme Court justice Shivraj Vir Patil to examine the appropriateness of procedure by DoT (Department of Telecomm) in issuance of licence and allocation of licences during the period 2001 to 2009,? Sibal told reporters here.

?There are several terms of reference which will be finalized with the one-man committee. But broadly speaking, we are looking at internal departmental procedures adopted by the DoT during 2001-2009 for the issuance of telecom access service licences and allocation of spectrum, who all were the telecom access licencees during that period.?

?We are looking at procedures and policies and directions of the DoT and the government, the procedures that were followed; whether they were consistent, if there were any deviations in that regard; whether the procedures were fair and transparent keeping with the principal of justices, lapses if any at the policy or procedural level,? Sibal said. ?And of course suggest remedial measures in that regard.?

The Minister said the one-man committee will have the right to call for records, call any DoT official for briefing on any matter.

?We would like to have this inquiry completed in a very short period of time, hopefully within four weeks,? he said.

Asked if the committee will probe allegations against former Telecom Minister A Raja as well, Sibal said: ?This is not against any minister, but the department.?

?There are two issues-one, the issue of criminal culpability-that is being taken care of by the Supreme Court. Hopefully, Supreme Court will monitor the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and find out who got benefits and all wrongdoings. On the administrative side, whether procedures were violated or not this (committee) will take care of,? he said.

While A Raja had to resign over the Rs 1.76 lakh crore ($ 40billion) 2G spectrum allocation scam and is under the scanner of the CBI, some tapes of conversation between journalists and Tata appointed PR professional Niira Radia hinted at corporate lobbying.

A standoff is continuing between the ruling Congress and the opposition led by Bharatiya Janata Partyy (BJP) over a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the scam with the former refusing the JPC and the latter sticking to it leading to a deadlock in the Parliament.