New Delhi: Taking on CAG Vinod Rai over the 2G spectrum loss figure of Rs 1.76 lakh crore, Union Minister Manish Tewari on Monday said the chief auditor had done a "disservice" to the India story by bringing out "hugely exaggerated and mythical numbers" in public discourse. Tewari also invited Rai to a public debate over the loss estimate in the allocation of 2G spectrum.
"We've seen this great debate around certain hugely exaggerated and mythical numbers which have been thrown in public debate by certain very responsible institutions and functionaries. And with due respect, because the gentleman is supposed to retire the day after... I think when institutions start indulging in fiction writing that is the greatest disservice that can possibly be done to an issue," he said.
The minister was speaking at an event here organised by the Observer Research Foundation. "I think the CAG over the past six years, with all due respects to him, has done the greatest disservice to the India story by tossing mythical numbers into the public space which had no relation to reality," Tewari added.
Later, Tewari speaking to reporters wondered why Rs 1.76 lakh crore was not generated in the 2G auction and invited Rai to a public debate on the issue. "The (CAG) report had said that if an auction is held, it would yield a revenue to the tune of Rs 1 lakh 76 thousand crore. The fact is that an auction was held. But where
07:52 PM, May 20, 2013
New Delhi: A Delhi court on Monday fixed July 8 for further proceedings in the additional 2G spectrum allocation case in which Bharti Cellular CMD Sunil Mittal, Essar Group promoter Ravi Ruia and others have been summoned as accused. Special CBI Judge OP Saini deferred the matter as the Supreme Court on April 26 had issued notice to CBI on Mittal's plea challenging the summons issued against him and had...
01:24 PM, Apr 29, 2013
JPC Chairman PC Chacko, whose removal has been sought by some panel members, said he would have considered resigning if the demand had come to him directly instead of Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar being approached for his ouster. Chacko was speaking to Karan Thapar on Devil's Advocate. Here is the full transcript of the interview: Karan Thapar: Hello and welcome to Devil's Advocate and in an interview with embattled...
09:16 PM, Apr 28, 2013
New Delhi: The draft JPC report on 2G scam has questioned NDA's decision to grant concessions to telecom companies on licence fee despite protests by Telecom Minister Jagmohan and says the then government had to "forego" over Rs 42,000 crore in offering Migration Package to cellular operators. On the issue of extending concessions to telecom operators such as moratorium on payment of licence fee, the panel said the government went...
07:16 PM, Apr 19, 2013
The Joint Parliamentary Committee on the 2G spectrum scam on Thursday gave a clean chit to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram, saying that the duo was not informed of the change in policy by the then telecom minister A Raja. ...
11:18 PM, Apr 18, 2013
New Delhi: With one of the judges recusing himself, the Supreme Court on Monday deferred the hearing till Thursday on the pleas of Bharti Cellular Ltd CMD Sunil Bharti Mittal and Essar Group promoter Ravi Ruia challenging the summons issued to them as accused in a graft case related to allocation of additional 2G spectrum in 2002. Though the apex court posted the hearing for April 18, the CBI said...
06:56 PM, Apr 15, 2013
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has asked a lower court to defer until April 22 summons to Bharti Airtel Ltd Chairman Sunil Mittal in a case over alleged corruption in allocation of mobile airwaves. The apex court deferred the summons as it will continue hearing Mittal's plea seeking to have the summons overthrown. The Supreme Court will resume hearing on Thursday Mittal's plea challenging the summons, judges said, after a...
05:05 PM, Apr 15, 2013
A key witness in the 2G trial has testified in favour of DMK MP and accused Kanimozhi. P Amritam, the Chief Financial Officer of KTV told the court that Kanimozhi joined KTV at her father Karunanidhi's behest and that she was not involved in the company's day to day affairs. ...
06:16 PM, Mar 15, 2013
Where does the 2G scam case probe stand now? CNN-IBN's national bureau chief Bhupendra Chaubey joined IBNLive readers for an interaction the issue. ...
06:17 PM, Feb 13, 2013
A Delhi court on Wednesday said it has no jurisdiction to order an FIR against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and DMK leader Dayanidhi Maran related to alleged irregularities in the 2G spectrum scam. ...
12:26 PM, Jan 30, 2013
A local court will take up for cognisance on Monday the chargesheet in the allocation of additional spectrum during the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) saying the then government's decision had "brightened" the outcome of the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of one Bharti Airtel's group companies. The chargesheet has named three telecom firms - Bharti Cellular Ltd, Hutchison Max Pvt Ltd (now known...
10:00 AM, Jan 13, 2013
New Delhi: A former senior official of the Department of Telecom on Monday told a Delhi court trying the 2G case that erstwhile Telecom Minister A Raja had "not consulted" him during preparation of the letter sent to the Prime Minister on December 26, 2007. "I have been shown letter dated December 26, 2007.... written by the then Minister to the Prime Minister. As member (Technology), I was not consulted...
08:32 PM, Dec 10, 2012
New Delhi: An Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on Monday decided to refund licence fee of companies whose telecom licences were cancelled earlier this year but had no criminal charge against them. The EGoM, headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, also decided to recommend to the Cabinet a one-time fee on existing telecom operators for spectrum they hold beyond 4.4 MHz. The Supreme Court in February had cancelled 122 licences...
08:50 AM, Oct 09, 2012
New Delhi: Former Union minister A Raja, the main accused in the 2G spectrum scam, and Suresh Kalmadi, an accused in the Commonwealth Games scam, have been made members of two separate Parliamentary Standing Committees. Raja, who represents the DMK in the Lok Sabha, has been nominated to the Standing Committee on Energy. Kalmadi, Congress member of the Lok Sabha, has been nominated to the Standing Committee on External Affairs....
09:03 PM, Oct 03, 2012
New Delhi: Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has handed over 15 files sought by the CBI in connection with its probe into increase of spectrum bandwidth for Airtel and Vodafone between 2001 and 2003 during when NDA was in power. The agency, which is likely to file a chargesheet in the case in the first week of October, had sought certified copies of the files pertaining to increase of spectrum beyond...
04:15 PM, Sep 17, 2012
New Delhi: The government is expecting "significant participation" from existing and new telecom operators in the spectrum auction scheduled to start from November 12, 2012. "We are expecting significant participation from the new operators and some of the existing operators which require additional spectrum may also participate in the auction," Telecom Secretary R Chandrashekhar said. Uninor and Sistema Shyam Teleservices are yet to confirm their participation in the upcoming auction...
06:57 PM, Aug 28, 2012
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said the opinion of its Constitution Bench on the Presidential Reference arising out of its 2G Spectrum judgement will not have "undoing" impact on the verdict by which the allocation of 122 licences were cancelled. "All of us so far know that answers given to the Presidential Reference has no meaning to the case as it is not undoing the judgement. That will...
11:09 PM, Aug 27, 2012
The Supreme Court on Friday said that there was no prima facie evidence to show that Chidambaram got benefits from 2G deals. ...
06:16 PM, Aug 24, 2012
New Delhi: Following is the chronology of events leading to the Supreme Court on Friday rejecting the plea of Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy seeking investigation into Finance Minister P Chidambaram's alleged role in the 2G spectrum scam case: December 15, 2010: Swamy moves special CBI court seeking prosecution of the then Telecom Minister A Raja in 2G scam and his (Swamy's) appointment as public prosecutor. January 7, 2011 :...
12:12 PM, Aug 24, 2012
New Delhi: The Centre on Tuesday approached the Supreme Court for another extension on the time limit for re-auctioning 2G spectrum. The matter is expected to come up for hearing on Friday. The apex court had given the Centre four months' time to conduct a fresh auction while quashing 122 telecom licenses on February 2 in connection with the 2G spectrum scam. The time limit was then extended till August...
11:47 AM, Aug 21, 2012
