Shoot the messenger.

In 2008 the then telecom minister, A Raja gave away licences for 2G spectrum on a first come first served basis. That would not have been a problem if it had been done in a transparent manner. But it wasn't. Last date for submitting applications was suddenly changed and companies, such as Unitech Wireless and Swan Telecom who had no experience in telecom, were given licenses. Unitech got its licence for Rs 16.61 billion and later sold 60% of its stake to Telenor of Norway for Rs 62 billion. Swan got its licence for Rs 15.31 billion and sold 45% stake to Etisalat of UAE for Rs 42 billion. There was an uproar when all this became known and a Public Interest Litigation was filed in the Supreme Court. A Raja was arrested and spent some time in Tihar jail as a guest of the people. He is now out on bail. In its report the Comptroller and Accountant General presented 3 estimates of the amount of money the government would have earned by auctioning the spectrum instead of giving it on a first come first served basis. Based on the amount that Swan received on selling 45% stake of its licence the CAG estimated that the government would have received Rs 570 billion. Based on what Sing Tel offered the estimated price was Rs 670 billion and based on what the government earned by auctioning 3G licences the amount would have been a whopping Rs 1.76 trillion. On 2 February, 2012 the Supreme Court quashed all 122 licences awarded by A Raja and ordered that they be auctioned. The Court fined Etisalat, Uninor and Tata Rs 50 million each and Loop and Essar were fined Rs 5 million each. The Court was of the opinion that the licences were awarded in an " unconstitutional and arbitrary manner ". The licences were put up for auction last week with a base price of Rs 140 billion for each circle but the government received bids amounting to a total of Rs 95 billion only. There were no bids at all for some circles. True to form the Congress has mounted a vicious attack on the CAG saying that its function is only to audit and not to hold the government to account. The CAG is being taunted for estimating a loss of Rs 1.76 trillion when the auction raised only a  minimal amount. There are suggestions that the CAG should be expanded to a 3 member body so that the Congress can put its stooges in to muddy the waters. In defense of the CAG, it only gave estimates of the total that could be raised based on actual sale figures and the market today is totally different to the one in 2008 when the scam occurred. Of course, taunting the CAG is also insulting the Supreme Court because it found the entire process flawed and cancelled all 122 licences. Today the Court asked the government to file an affidavit giving reasons as to why all the licences were not put up for auction. No court can control those who are totally shameless. Like this lot.