2G scam: Sibal may have put foot in mouth as CAG, PAC slam him

Telecom minister Kapil Sibal's public rebuttal of the Comptroller & Auditor General's  findings in the 2G spectrum case may well backfire, with both the CAG and Parliament's public accounts committee (PAC), which is probing the matter, coming down heavily on the minister.

While the PAC is seriously considering a breach of privilege motion against Sibal, the CAG issued a statement on Wednesday saying his comments about the CAG report ''may even amount to contempt of Parliament.''

The BJP's Murli Manohar Joshi, chairman of the PAC, criticised Sibal's questioning of CAG's loss figure. "The statement made by Sibal is improper and against propriety," he said.

Later the CAG came out with its statement. ''As per Para 1.12 of the Rules of Parliamentary Procedure, when any matter is under consideration of a parliamentary committee and the committee is holding its sittings for that purpose, no person including a member of Parliament should make or publish a statement or comment about that matter. Making public comments on the matter which is being considered by a parliamentary committee is highly improper and may even amount to contempt of the house.''

Angry Congress sources said that the CAG had himself breached propriety and broken the above rule by issuing a statement in retaliation to Sibal's questioning of the loss figures.

Sibal had recently said the national auditor had erred in estimating the exchequer's loss at Rs1.76 lakh crore when the Department of Telecom (DoT) granted 2G spectrum licences to telecom companies in 2008 at prices fixed in 2001. Any possible loss was negligible, especially in view of the social advantages of the spread of mobile telephony, he argued.