2G scam: Sibal to start dishing out notices

With the government beleaguered by the spectrum allocation scam, telecom minister Kapil Sibal today said that action would be taken against 85 companies that obtained 2G licences during the tenure of his predecessor A Raja.

Sibal said all the 85 licenses will be studied separately. "We have decided to send notices to 85 companies. We will give them 60 days to respond. We will take action based on merit and see if the memorandum of association and equity conditions has been fulfilled or not," Sibal said at a press conference in New Delhi.

He singled out S-TeL, Uninor, Loop, and Videocon for not meeting eligibility norms.

He also said show-cause notices will be issued to 119 licencees for suppressing facts and also for missing roll-out obligations as per the terms and conditions of licence. "We believe that some of the companies might have suppressed facts, might have got an undue advantage in accessing licences," Sibal said.

Asked about the revenue loss to the exchequer by allotting spectrum at 2001 prices, as pointed out by the CAG, the minister said, "The CAG has stated this. This is something which the ministry will decide and we will apply our mind individually to each case."

The notices will be issued to 119 licencees, of which 81 fall under both categories of ineligibility to get licences and 38 for not meeting roll-out obligations alone as spelt out in the licences, Sibal said.

The ministry will start issuing the notices in next three-four days, senior DoT officials said, adding the minister has cleared the file.