Former telecom minister Sukh Ram blamed the “lack of consistency in government policy” for the lukewarm response to the 2G auction.
Congress veteran said that he will meet Union Telecom minister Kapil Sibal and ask him to revert to the policy of competitive bidding framed in 1994.
He blamed BJP led NDA government for changing the telecom policy of competitive bidding during the tenure of the then minister Pramod Mahajan and asked the UPA government to adopt the telecom policy drafted in 1994 when he held the portfolio of communication. He blamed that the change in policy by Pramod Mahajan led to 2G mess.
Sukh Ram claimed that the 1994 policy has helped in earning annual revenue of over Rs 68,000 core without imposing any tax on the people and even a small state like Himachal was contributing Rs 1,000 annually by way of service tax and spectrum charges.
He added that policy of “first come first serve” adopted by NDA government instead of “highest tender” was “flawed”, with no logical criteria and as a result technically sound bidders had to opt out and multinational companies managed to get the spectrum.
The policy of first come first serve was further amended to auction with base price fixed by the government which fell out during implementation and creating legal wrangles which ended up with the Supreme Court cancelling the auction of 2G spectrum.
