New Delhi: Amidst allegations of corruption in allocation of telecom spectrum and coal mines, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday promised to punish wrongdoers and said future allotment of scarce natural resources will happen only through auction. UPA II government has faced plethora of corruption charges in allocation of 2G spectrum when A Raja was the Telecom Minister and in allocation of coal blocks when Singh himself held the charge of the Coal Ministry.
"Allegations of impropriety are being investigated and cases of wrong doing will be punished," Singh said in his address on the occasion of the UPA-II government completing 4 years in office. He said much has been made out of problems that arose with the way scarce resources such as spectrum and mining blocks were allocated in the past and there have been allegations of deliberate malfeasance.
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01:23 AM, May 23, 2013
New Delhi: Vinod Rai's tenure as the Comptroller and Auditor General of India ends on Wednesday. Rai's five years in office are seen as controversial given the CAG reports on the coal scam and the 2G spectrum allocation scam. Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma will take charge as the new CAG, but his appointment is already being questioned. Vinod Rai is the man who caused a big embarrassment to the...
11:00 AM, May 22, 2013
New Delhi: Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai, who demits office on Wednesday, will be remembered for turning the statutory body into a pugnacious watchdog of good governance and administrative integrity at a time when India is experiencing the need for greater transparency and a rebalancing of power that has tilted over the years towards the executive. Rai's five-year tenure (2008-2013) has been a tad controversial because of the unprecedented...
12:45 PM, May 21, 2013
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...
07:52 PM, May 20, 2013
New Delhi: With the 2G spectrum issue getting caught in logjam in the JPC, the BJP on Friday sought to bring the matter to the forefront of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee saying the matter is pending and should be disposed of. The demand to settle the pending issue came at the first meeting of the newly-constituted PAC. BJP member Prakash Javadekar raised the issue of PAC's draft report on 2G...
09:35 PM, May 17, 2013
Thrissur: JPC Chairman PC Chacko has said it will be "unconstitutional" to summon former Telecom Minister A Raja, prime accused in the 2G spectrum case, before the Joint Parliamentary Committee to take evidence, as it would be an "infringement" of Article 20 of the Constitution. "Article 20 (iii) of the Constitution clearly states no person accused of any offence shall be compelled to be a witness against himself," Chacko said....
01:26 AM, May 16, 2013
New Delhi: Former corporate lobbyist Niira Radia, a key prosecution witness in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, is likely to appear before a Delhi court on May 28 to depose in the case. The CBI on Thursday submitted before Special CBI Judge OP Saini its list of prosecution witnesses to be called for recording of their statements before the court and Radia's evidence is slated for May 28. Radia, who...
05:25 PM, May 09, 2013
New Delhi: Differences have reportedly cropped up between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi with the latter wanting the Prime Minister to address media on all issues plaguing the government, sources say. But Manmohan Singh is not keen to talk to the media on any of the corruption allegations including 2G spectrum scam, Railway Board bribery and Railway Protection Force officers transfer and posting scandal and the...
06:32 PM, May 07, 2013
New Delhi: The Lok Sabha has approved the extension of the term of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G scam till the end of Monsoon Session. The Monsoon Session is likely to begin around July 23. Facing a combined Opposition and allegations of bias, the chairman of JPC, PC Chacko had held informal consultation with the members. Sources say the BJP had agreed for an extension. The tenure of the...
03:19 PM, May 06, 2013
New Delhi: Chairman of the joint Parliamentary Committee on the 2G scam PC Chacko is likely to move a resolution in the Lok Sabha seeking extension of the JPC beyond the Budget Session. Sources say that the BJP has agreed to the extension of the JPC beyond May 10. After Lok Sahba Speaker Meira Kumar expressed her inability to remove him as JPC Chairman as demanded by 15 opposition members...
02:30 PM, May 06, 2013
New Delhi: BJP President Rajnath Singh and LK Advani in Chhattisgarh on Saturday met top RSS leader Dattatreya Hosabale. The meeting was held to discuss the party strategy to oust the UPA Government from Parliament in the coming Lok Sabha elections. The main agenda of both the BJP and RSS against the UPA is corruption. The UPA Government which is in the power for the last nine years has been...
10:05 PM, May 04, 2013
New Delhi: Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy on Saturday moved a special CBI court seeking summoning of a written statement given by former Telecom Minister A Raja to Joint Parliamentary Committee in connection with the 2G spectrum scam. In his application filed before Special CBI Judge OP Saini, Swamy said that "in order to ensure that all aspects of the case are examined, actual culprits may be booked, tried and...
06:42 PM, May 04, 2013
New Delhi: A prosecution witness on Friday told a Delhi court that DMK MP Kanimozhi, who is facing trial in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case, had "no role at all" in the Rs 200 crore transactions between Kalaignar TV (P) Ltd and Cineyug Films (P) Limited. The statement assumes significance as it contradicts the CBI theory according to which Kanimozhi was taking interest in the day-to-day affairs of the...
08:36 PM, May 03, 2013
New Delhi: The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on 2G scam is likely to meet on Tuesday to decide on the "future course of action" amid possibility of it seeking a fresh extension of tenure to adopt the controversial draft report. After Lok Sahba Speaker Meira Kumar expressed her inability to remove him as JPC Chairman as demanded by 15 opposition members of the committee, PC Chacko has started contacting members...
07:55 PM, May 03, 2013
New Delhi: Against the backdrop of Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar's inability to remove him, JPC chairman PC Chacko on Thursday contacted the committee members to hold a meeting before May 10 when its term ends and is learnt to be ready to extend the tenure of the panel to adopt the controversial draft report on 2G spectrum scam. Chacko has received a go-ahead from the Congress high command to...
09:50 PM, May 02, 2013
New Delhi: Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Thursday rejected the Opposition demand for removal of PC Chacko as Chairman of the JPC probing the 2G scam, citing "absence of express provisions in rules". In a letter to JPC members, Kumar said rules and directions are "silent" on the removal of the chairman of a parliamentary committee and urged the Chairman and the members of the JPC to work out...
02:36 PM, May 02, 2013
New Delhi: Fifteen opposition members of JPC on 2G spectrum scam on Wednesday wrote to the committee secretariat rejecting the panel's draft report in toto, setting the stage for worsening of the confrontation with the government on the issue. The 15 members, who had met Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar last week to express "no-confidence" in panel chief PC Chacko, wrote separate letters on Wednesday stating that they are rejecting...
09:35 PM, May 01, 2013
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday decided to take cognizance of the case of CBI keeping a scribe in the dark for 20 months about the closure of preliminary inquiry against him for allegedly trying to influence the Enforcement Directorate's probe in the 2G spectrum allocation scam. "We will take cognizance of it," a bench comprising justices GS Singhvi and KS Radhakrishnan said after senior advoacte Ram Jethmalani showed...
08:50 PM, May 01, 2013
New Delhi: Amid demands by opposition members for the outright rejection of the draft report on 2G, JPC Chairman PC Chacko on Monday said he was ready to take their amendments in the form of dissent notes but would not change the text of the documents. "I am willing for a detailed discussion on each of the (10) chapters. The text cannot be changed. The opposition's amendments can be in...
04:40 PM, Apr 29, 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
