Manmohan Singh, Chidambaram not responsible for 2G spectrum loss: Sibal

New Delhi - Welcoming the Supreme Court's judgement of quashing 122 spectrum licences, Union Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then Finance Minister P Chidambaram were not responsible for the loss of revenue in the 2G allocation scam.

"There is no indictment of the Prime Minister or the then Finance Minister (P Chidambaram) in the Supreme Court's judgement. If there is any indictment it is the 2003 policy (first-come, first-serve) of the NDA government, and we only followed it," Sibal told media shortly after the apex court judgement on the issue.

"The revenue loss happened due to the policies initiated by the NDA government. We only followed these policies," he added.

He further said the government would wait for Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommendations on the spectrum allocation and then proceed further.

The apex court said there was no need for a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to monitor the 2G scam probe.

The apex court verdict was in response to Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy's petition seeking a CBI probe into Chidambaram's alleged role in the spectrum scam, and on two pleas filed by noted lawyer Prashant Bhushan seeking cancellation of 2G licences and the setting up of a SIT to probe the scam.

Swamy had on January 7 submitted documents seeking prosecution of Chidambaram in the case before a Delhi court.
 
The telecom scam, one of India's biggest graft cases ever, may have cost 39.57 billion dollars in expected revenue losses to the public exchequer as per the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India's report.