Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) Vinod Rai, who briefed senior Congress leader P.C. Chacko-headed Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on Monday, maintained that the CAG acted within its constitutional mandate while preparing the report on the 2G spectrum issue. The JPC is looking into the 2G spectrum allocation scam.
Sources disclosed that some of the ruling party members sought to know from Mr Rai the constitutional mandate of the CAG in looking into the policy decisions of the government. The committee members also wanted to know how the CAG arrived at the presumptive loss of `1.76 lakh crores to the exchequer in the 2G spectrum case. The JPC meanwhile, will be briefed by the Enforcement Directorate officials and its director Arun Mathur on June 8. The ED officers will brief the committee about its probe under the provisions of the foreign exchange and anti-money laundering laws in the 2G spectrum issue. On June 7, CBI director A.P. Singh will brief the committee.
Sources said, a brief argument took place when Congress member Manish Tewari sought to know the constitutional mandate of the CAG in looking into the policy decisions of the government. To this, CPI’s Gurudas Dasgupta said the CAG also follows certain conventions besides following the mandate.
Some members also pointed that the Trai had taken a “definite decision” that the spectrum 800-900-1800 Mhz bands should not be auctioned.
“That being a decision of Trai and that being a policy decision, how come the CAG has come to the notional loss of `1.76 lakh crores. Policy is not a matter which is a subject matter of audit. It is a government decision,” Mr Chacko said quoting members, while briefing the media. He said the meeting with the CAG remained inconclusive as some documents related to the CAG’s telecom reports of 2006 and 2010 were not available with the panel.
Mr Chacko said some members also wanted to know whether the CAG took into account the policy prescription of the government before arriving at the figure of presumptive loss.