Pranab says Chidambaram didn't press for 2G auction

Mukherjee’s critical note sent to PMO in March placed before Supreme Court.

A finance ministry note on 2G spectrum sent to the Prime Minister’s Office in March has brought the war between UPA heavyweights Pranab Mukherjee and P Chidambaram out in the open.

The finance ministry, under Mukherjee, squarely blamed Chidambaram for not taking any concrete step to prevent the alleged 2G scam of 2007-08. The note was placed before the Supreme Court by Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy on Wednesday.

The note, vetted by Mukherjee, states the finance ministry, under Chidambaram in 2007-08, did not press for the auction of 2G spectrum. The note is a collection of critical remarks and observations on the finance ministry inaction over 2G spectrum pricing, which may have resulted in the much talked about loss to the exchequer.
“The FM (Chidambaram) did not deal with the need, if any, to revise the entry fee or the rate of revenue share,” says the March 2011 note by the department of economic affairs or DEA (in the finance ministry). At another place in the lengthy note, it has said, “Ministry of finance representatives who attended the telecom commission meeting on January 15, 2008 did not raise the issue of revision of entry fee.”
Also, in a meeting on January 30, 2008, between the minister of telecom and the FM, “it was noted by the then finance minister (Chidambaram) he was for now not seeking to revisit the current regimes for entry fee or revenue share,” according to the communication to the Prime Minister’s Office.

Again, in meetings through 2008 (May 29 and July 4), the telecom minister and the FM agreed to enhance spectrum usage charges and pricing of spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz. The note, however, adds “the issue of revision of entry fee was not discussed in the meeting.”

Reiterating the finance ministry stand, under Chidambaram, the note points out that on November 11, 2008, the telecom commission took up the spectrum charge issue. In this meeting, the finance ministry raised the issue of updating the entry fee but “only for licences allotted after January 1, 2009.”
The note added, “thus, the ministry of finance implicitly agreed to the imposition of the same entry fee as prevailed in 2001 for licences allotted up to December 31, 2008.”
While attacking the then FM several times, the 11-page note has shown the then finance secretary D Subbarao (now the RBI governor) in a positive light. “The secretary finance had suggested to go for auction for initial spectrum of 4.4 MHz in early February 2008. DoT (Department of Telecommunications) was not keen to do the same since it had said it would disturb the level playing field...”
Chidambaram was the FM in the UPA-I government, when crucial decisions related to the allocation of 2G spectrum and its pricing were taken.
Last year, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) estimated a 'notional’ loss to the exchequer of Rs 1.76 lakh crore due to the DoT, under telecom minister A Raja, opting for a first-come-first-serve 2G spectrum allocation policy. Raja was forced to resign as the telecom minister after that, and was then taken into judicial custody for letting some companies jump the queue to get 2G licences at “throwaway prices”, allegedly in return for favours.
Swamy, in a recent petition, said Chidambaram as the then FM had as much a role in the 2G scam as Raja. The CBI is opposing Swamy in court on the matter of investigating Chidambaram’s role in 2G allocation.