The Joint Parliamentary Committee has observed that the decision by the Department of Telecom in 2002 to allocate additional spectrum beyond 6.2 Mhz was deliberately under-valued to favour some telecom operators thereby causing revenue loss to the exchequer.

While the report did not name the operators, the CBI has filed a chargesheet against Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India. It has been alleged that operators were given additional spectrum without any upfront fee.

“The Committee also finds the proposal intriguing in view of the fact that the concerned officers who mattered in the decision making were not present on the day when the note was initiated and decision taken in the matter,” the JPC report said adding that no plausible explanation in this regard could be given by the then Chairman of Telecom Commission Shyamal Ghosh in evidence before the Committee. “The whole sequence of events leading to the decision taken for allocation of additional spectrum to the operators in Metro circles of Mumbai and Delhi is clearly indicative of inept handling of such a vexed issue by the DoT,” it said.

> thomas.thomas@thehindu.co.in

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