JPC to quiz former Telecom Secys from tomorrow

The Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G scam will quiz Telecom Secretaries who served during the initial years of NDA rule, when the controversial migration policy was unveiled for cellular operators.
A V Gokak, who served as Telecom Secretary between November 1996 and August 1998 will appear tommorow before the JPC headed by Congress leader P C Chacko in connection with the 2G spectrum allocation scam.


On Thursday, the JPC is scheduled to record evidence of Gokak's successor Anil Kumar, who served as Telecom Secretary between August 1998 and February 2000.
The NDA Government had unveiled a migration policy in June 1999, during Kumar's tenure, allowing cellular operators to move from fixed licence fee regime to revenue-sharing model.
The Department of Telecom had told the JPC that the migration policy had led to losses to the exchequer to the tune of Rs 43,523.92 crore.
The JPC had earlier questioned former Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Chairman M S Verma.
The JPC also has plans call former Telecom Ministers, including Arun Shourie, Dayanidhi Maran and A Raja for questioning on telecom policies.
The JPC is examining India's telecom pricing policy 1998-2008 that also covers the period of the NDA government led by the BJP that was in power 1998-2004.
The panel was formed following persistent demands by the opposition after allegations surfaced of irregularities in the allocation of 2G licences.