2G scam: PAC blames PMO, cabinet secretariat

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) today submitted its draft report on the 2G scam, in which it has blamed the Prime Minister's Office and the Cabinet Secretariat for indirectly giving the green signal to the then telecom minister A Raja by not taking any "corrective action" to stop the illegal sale of spectrum.

The report, submitted by PAC chairman Murli Manohar Joshi, has also not spared the prime minister for "some unfortunate omissions."

The PAC report also blames the then finance minister P Chidambaram for recommending to the prime minister to "treat the matter as closed."

At the same time, the PAC noted that the finance minister had, "in his note dated February 15, 2008, acknowledged that spectrum is a scarce resource and the price of spectrum should be based on its scarcity value and efficiency of usage".

"The committee believed that ends of accountability demand that any wrongful loss caused to the government is made good and the guilty brought to justice."

The secretary to the Department of Economic Affairs also failed to bring the matter to the notice of cabinet secretary or even the finance minister in writing even after irregularities became public, the report pointed out.