___________________________________________ Nripendra Misra was TRAI chief when it allowed 2G scam to take place The BJP government’s choice for the post of Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister is highly questionable and unethical, since Mr Nripendra Misra was the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chief, when it was indicted by the Supreme Court for its role in the multi-crore 2G spectrum scam. It is shocking that the Narendra Modi government is hell bent on changing the law to facilitate the appointment of a controversial individual, who headed the telecom regulator at a time (in 2007) when one of the biggest scams in India’s history took place, and none other than the Supreme Court held the TRAI also responsible for the scam in its judgment delivered on February 2, 2012. With this revelation, the Aam Aadmi Party, which has already opposed the introduction of the TRAI amendment bill in the Lok Sabha on Friday, appeals to all political parties to rise above political considerations and object to the government’s intent of subverting the impartiality of regulators in different sectors, when this bill will be taken up for consideration and passing in both Houses of Parliament. The issue now is not merely confined to questioning the Modi government’s hasty decision of having tried to change the TRAI law through an ordinance within 48 hours of assuming office to make eligible an otherwise ineligible individual for a key post in an important office, and now the government needs to explain its real agenda behind such a dangerous move. Mr Misra was the TRAI Chairperson from 2006 to 2009 and a close look at the facts show that it was TRAI which had recommended that the 2G spectrum should not be auctioned, leading to the mega scam in 2007. The Supreme Court, in its February 2, 2012 judgment, in the case titled – CPIL Vs the Union of India, in paragraphs 73-75 severely criticised the TRAI recommendations on 2G spectrum allocation. The country’s top court, while quashing the 122 licences issued for the allocation of 2G spectrum, had ruled that the telecom department should not have accepted the TRAI recommendations in which there was no merit, which were flawed and violated the settles policies. The Supreme Court stated, “To say the least, the entire approach adopted by TRAI was lopsided and contrary to the decision taken by the Council of Ministers and its recommendations became a handle for the then the Minister of C&IT (communications and information technology) and the officers of the DoT who virtually gifted away the important national asset at throw away prices by willfully ignoring the concerns raised from various quarters including the Prime Minister, Ministry of Finance and also some of its own officers.” The Supreme Court had pulled up the TRAI strongly stating :“We have no hesitation to record a finding that the recommendations made by TRAI were flawed in many respects and implementation thereof by the DoT resulted in gross violation of the objective of NPT 1999 and the decision taken by the Council of Ministers on 31.10.2003.” It went on to state “We have no doubt that if the method of auction had been adopted for grant of licence which could be the only rational transparent method for distribution of national wealth, the nation would have been enriched by many thousand crores.” The above mentioned facts show that the Modi government first abused the emergency powers by bringing an ordinance, and is now trying to mislead the Parliament for getting its nod to change the law for having an individual with questionable credentials in a key post. The AAP is of the view that the TRAI Act of 1997, amended in the year 2000, added strength to the impartiality and neutrality of the telecom regulator by making it clear that its chairperson and members will be ineligible from holding any government post in future, is a sound law and there is no need to tamper with it. Any move to do so will seriously undermine the impartiality and neutrality of regulators in the country and the Modi government’s move needs to be strongly resisted. Link: ift.tt/1nsduBm Time: July 13, 2014 at 04:07PM ___________________________________________
Posted on: Sun, 13 Jul 2014 11:05:41 +0000
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