Kapil Sibal rules out license cancellation, bats for PM

The central government?s strike-back of defending the Prime Minister continued on Saturday as the new telecom minister Kapil Sibal continued rooting for Manmohan Singh in the 2G fiasco as he ruled out cancelling any telecom licenses.

On Saturday Sibal dismissed cancelling the telecom licenses of a number of operators, who had failed to meet rollout obligations after being recommended to do so by the telecoms watchdog.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on late Thursday had recommended the cancellation of 38 telecoms licences because the operators did not meet rollout requirements and the examination another 31 licences for just meeting rollout minimums.

On Saturday, Sibal said that he was not looking at a cancellation of the licenses instead his ministry would re-valuate the spectrum and make the violating operators pay the difference, thus recover the lost revenue.

?We will say keep your spectrum but give us more money for the cheap licences you got. We cannot do injustice to genuine investors and cannot deprive customers of telecom services. But the loss the exchequer has faced must be compensated,? he said.

Sibal, one of the Congress? most articulate leaders, seems to be riding on the forefront of the allegiance that has set out to help the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government out of the fix that it landed into with the 2G scam.

The entire episode began after a report by the government?s auditor found the former Telecom Minister A Raja ?personally responsible? for costing the national exchequer a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore through ?illogical? sale of 2G telecom spectrum in 2008.

Manmohan Singh found himself in the subject to veiled attacks by the opposition after the Supreme Court during its proceedings mentioned ?the silence and alleged inaction? by the Prime Minister?s office on a letter that asked for the sanction to prosecute Raja was worrying.

Calling him ?a very sensitive man?, Sibal defended the Prime Minister saying he could not be held responsible for not giving a statement on the entire issue just yet.

Speaking to NDTV, the new Telecom Minister said the Supreme Court?s words were not against the Prime Minister but a mere ?iteration? during its proceedings.

Sibal also slammed Subramanian Swamy, who has filed a petition in the Supreme Court on the 2G spectrum scam, by saying the Janata Party President was after scoring a ?political point?.

He also raised questions on the Comptroller Auditor General?s (CAG) report and its methods of deriving of the amount of loss to the country as he launched a blow at the opposition who virtually forced A Raja into resigning.

?As far as the Congress goes, ministers have always asked them to resign. None of the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) ministers have resigned. You give me an example, when BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) was in power have they ever asked anybody to resign?? he said.