Patil panel finds all 2G procedures since 2003 wrong: Sibal

A one-man panel of former Supreme Court judge Shivaraj V Patil examining the allocation of telecom licenses and bandwidth by the department of telecommunications (DoT) from 2001 to 2009 has said all procedures adopted since 2003 were "wrong," including the first-come-first basis for allotment, telecom minister Kapil Sibal said on Friday.

Briefing reporters in New Delhi about the report submitted by Patil earlier this week, he also said the procedures adopted from 2003 were against the decisions and opinion of the union cabinet and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) taken in October 2003. 

The report's observations bring into question the processes adopted by the government that was then led by the Bharatiya Janata Party. The BJP, now in opposition, has been crying foul over the 2008 spectrum allocation and even shut down Parliament for the entire winter session over the matter. 

Sibal said the report showed former telecom minister Andimuthu Raja - who had to resign last November amid relentless opposition allegations of favouritism and manipulation while allocating spectrum in 2008 - in fact followed precedents set by the previous BJP-led government. 

Raja was arrested on Wednesday and sent into CBI custody. The Central Bureau of Investigation accuses him of showing undue favours to some companies that cost the government about 21,870 crore in potential revenue. This is way below the figure given by the Comptroller and Auditor General, who late last year estimated that the potential revenue loss was of Rs1.76 lakh crore. 

The BJP says the Patil report is an attempt to bail out Raja and reiterated its demand for a probe by a joint parliamentary committee (JPC).