Realpolitiks begins. BJP parliamentary candidate from Chandni Chowk Harsh Vardhan attacked Congress MP and Minister for Telecommunications and IT Kapil Sibal alleging that he ‘gifted Rs 650 crore as fine waiver to Anil Ambani’ and demanded ‘judicial enquiry’.
“He deprived the country of Rs 650 crore in penalty fees payable by Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communication Ltd in 2011,” said Harsh Vardhan during a press conference.
He said that in February 2011, Sibal overruled his ministry the senior officers and violated the telecom policy enunciated by the NDA government.
“Reliance had deliberately switched off services to 13 circles. It was liable to pay Rs 50 crore per circle as penalty for violating terms of the Universal Access Service Licenses held by it. But Sibal waived the penalty with no valid explanation,” he alleged.
He said that the company officials tried to justify this saying it was not finding the circles viable. But it conveniently suppressed the fact that it was receiving subsidy from the government under the Universal Services Obligation Fund established under the telecom policy.
In normal circumstances, disputes between private companies and the government are referred to Telecom Disputes Settlement and Arbitration Tribunal. Sibal himself had gained the notoriety of forcing private players to first pay up their penalties by telling them to take their objection to TDSAT. In this way, many private players had been wrongly punished.
In the Reliance case, a show cause notice was issued by the Department on December 21, 2010 asking why Reliance should not be made to pay the penalty of Rs. 50 crore per circle for clear violation of the UAS Agreement.
It was surprising because Sibal appeared to don his lawyer’s garb to argue for Anil Ambani’s lapses. The country had the misfortune of seeing a cabinet minister act as a lawyer for a corporate house which was violating rules and laughing its way to the bank.
“The company did not reply to the show cause notice. On January 5, 2011 the company wrote to the Universal Access Obligation Fund Administrator in the ministry asking for six weeks’ time to reply without mentioning whether it intended restoring the services,” he said.
When the government refused, Reliance addressed the question of restoration, the company kept writing letters reiterating its demand for six more weeks. On February 9, 2011 the telecom secretary approved the levy of Rs 650 crore and file reached to Sibal on the same day
“Instead of approving the Secretary’s note for levying penalty, Sibal waited for a whole week until a letter arrived from Reliance which claimed that it had ‘restored’ services. It can easily be inferred that the minister, instead of acting for the interests of the government, was responding to the orders of Anil Ambani,” he added.
Two days later, Sibal overruled the Secretary saying Reliance had merely “interrupted” services and therefore should not be asked to pay a penalty.
This was not an “interruption”. Reliance had deliberately switched off the 13 circles. This was done in spite of taking advantage of the National Telecom Policy, 1999 which provides for subsidy to private sector operators in low-revenue areas through the USFO (Universal Services Obligation Fund).
ENDS
“He deprived the country of Rs 650 crore in penalty fees payable by Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communication Ltd in 2011,” said Harsh Vardhan during a press conference.
He said that in February 2011, Sibal overruled his ministry the senior officers and violated the telecom policy enunciated by the NDA government.
“Reliance had deliberately switched off services to 13 circles. It was liable to pay Rs 50 crore per circle as penalty for violating terms of the Universal Access Service Licenses held by it. But Sibal waived the penalty with no valid explanation,” he alleged.
He said that the company officials tried to justify this saying it was not finding the circles viable. But it conveniently suppressed the fact that it was receiving subsidy from the government under the Universal Services Obligation Fund established under the telecom policy.
In normal circumstances, disputes between private companies and the government are referred to Telecom Disputes Settlement and Arbitration Tribunal. Sibal himself had gained the notoriety of forcing private players to first pay up their penalties by telling them to take their objection to TDSAT. In this way, many private players had been wrongly punished.
In the Reliance case, a show cause notice was issued by the Department on December 21, 2010 asking why Reliance should not be made to pay the penalty of Rs. 50 crore per circle for clear violation of the UAS Agreement.
It was surprising because Sibal appeared to don his lawyer’s garb to argue for Anil Ambani’s lapses. The country had the misfortune of seeing a cabinet minister act as a lawyer for a corporate house which was violating rules and laughing its way to the bank.
“The company did not reply to the show cause notice. On January 5, 2011 the company wrote to the Universal Access Obligation Fund Administrator in the ministry asking for six weeks’ time to reply without mentioning whether it intended restoring the services,” he said.
When the government refused, Reliance addressed the question of restoration, the company kept writing letters reiterating its demand for six more weeks. On February 9, 2011 the telecom secretary approved the levy of Rs 650 crore and file reached to Sibal on the same day
“Instead of approving the Secretary’s note for levying penalty, Sibal waited for a whole week until a letter arrived from Reliance which claimed that it had ‘restored’ services. It can easily be inferred that the minister, instead of acting for the interests of the government, was responding to the orders of Anil Ambani,” he added.
Two days later, Sibal overruled the Secretary saying Reliance had merely “interrupted” services and therefore should not be asked to pay a penalty.
This was not an “interruption”. Reliance had deliberately switched off the 13 circles. This was done in spite of taking advantage of the National Telecom Policy, 1999 which provides for subsidy to private sector operators in low-revenue areas through the USFO (Universal Services Obligation Fund).
ENDS
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