Author: Special Correspondent
Publication: The Hindu
Date: May 31, 201
URL: http://www.hindu.com/2011/05/31/stories/2011053163981400.htm
Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) Vinod
Rai on Monday asserted that the presumptive loss of Rs. 1.76 lakh core arrived
at by the organisation vis-à-vis the 2G spectrum allocation was based
on sound principles and was within its mandate.
He was responding to specific questions by
some members of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probing the 2G spectrum
scam whether the CAG had exceeded its brief by going into a 'policy' issue.
The members contended that the loss projected
by the CAG was entirely notional as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
(TRAI) had taken a policy decision that spectrum 800 to 1800 MHz would not
be auctioned. The CAG was asked whether his institution had factored in the
'policy decision' while arriving at the presumptive loss.
Another section of the JPC members contested
the view that the functioning of the CAG was limited to audit and argued that
it had the mandate to probe the implementation of the policy.
"The issue is not related to policy.
Here it is the faulty implementation of the policy that led to the loss to
the exchequer. To maintain that the CAG has no jurisdiction over an issue
arising out of a policy matter is erroneous," a JPC member told The Hindu.
The CAG, in a report to Parliament last year,
pegged the presumptive loss to the exchequer on 2G spectrum allocation at
Rs. 1.76 lakh crore. The findings of the report and the furore in Parliament
led to the resignation of the then Telecom Minister, A. Raja.
It is not the first time that the question
whether the CAG could look into a policy issue has arisen.
The issue was hotly debated in the Public
Affairs Committee headed by Murli Manohar Joshi and he had ruled that the
CAG was duty-bound to probe all relevant issues that had a bearing on revenue.
