Chidambaram had no role in 2G scam

The Government today insisted that the former Telecom Minister had no role anywhere in the 2G spectrum allocation controversy and demands that his resignation were a "conspiracy" against him. The government also justified the fact that the minutes of a meeting between Chidambaram and the then Telecom Minister A Raja was not recorded, stating it was not required. Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal told the reporters that the demand for Chidambaram's resignation was a conspiracy. Chidambaram had no role anywhere. Whatever and whenever he took any decisions, he had taken it after many consultations. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, claimed that Mr. Chidambaram had never recommended to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that start-up spectrum should be treated as a "closed-chapter" and there was some confusion regarding it. He maintained that his comments were about additional spectrum charges. He said that it was not a structured meeting like a Cabinet meeting orGOM where the minutes are prepared immediately after. Rejecting charges of favouring Reliance Communications, Mr. Sibal insisted that the penalty of Rs.5 crore imposed on it for interrupting services briefly was as per the agreement between USO Fund and the private operator. The charges which were levelled against him by an NGO in a PIL filed in the Supreme Court that the company was imposed a penalty of Rs.5 crore against the Rs.650 crore as a favour, he dismissed it as "malicious, motivated and defamatory". Mr. Sibal questioned the basis for computing the penalty of Rs.650 crore whereas the USO Fund itself had recommended a penalty of Rs. 50 crore only. Mr. Sibal said that the services were restored on February 16 this year and the company had paid a penalty of Rs.5.5 crore. He stated that the penalty was calculated on the basis of duration of disruption of services (7-45 days) as provided in the agreement of USO Fund and RCom. Mr.  Sibal suggested that the PILs were being misused as they were only meant for serving "public interest" and "not to settle personal score". An application was filed in the Supreme Court by Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) alleging that Mr. Sibal had reduced the penalty from Rs.650 crore to Rs.5 crore against Anil Ambani headed RCom for violations in the UASL agreement. Reported by,      AR