Kapil Sibal’s refutation of CAG a pyrrhic win

Telecom minister Kapil Sibal seems to have scored a pyrrhic victory when he forcefully demolished the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on the second generation mobile telephony spectrum allocation scam, pointing to a notional loss of Rs1.76 lakh crore. He has unwittingly tried to discredit the CAG, which could turn out to be a great disservice. It would make the beleaguered UPA government far more vulnerable than before.

It was also clear right from the day the report was laid on the table of the parliament that the figure of loss incurred was not accurate, and that it was a hugely debatable issue. But the purported loss to the exchequer was not to be taken in isolation. It was part of the many other things that were not right about the way Sibal’s predecessor, A.Raja, had gone about allotting the second generation mobile telephony spectrum.

There were blatant violations of procedure and the fairness principle was given a go-by in the arbitrary choice of licensees.
Secondly, the CAG had calculated the potential loss not by comparing the license fee collected in the auction of 3G licences alone but also on how companies leveraged their market value based on the spectrum they had managed to corner through unfair means.

The brilliant lawyer that he is, Sibal picked up what was the weakest point in the report and went on to clinically decimate it. But if he believes that the second generation mobile telephony spectrum scam would vanish into thin air because of his legal acumen, then he may have to think again. He has not created the unbreachable bulwark that will protect the Manmohan Singh government from opposition criticism and attack.

His other argument that he was compelled to air his views on the CAG through the media because parliament was stalled by the opposition, and he had no other way of stating the facts may not wash either. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is examining the CAG report, and the parliamentary panel is the right place to thrash out the inaccuracies of the auditor. Protocol demands that the government put forward its view in the panel.

It is clear that Sibal is fighting a political battle on behalf of the Congress and prime minister Manmohan Singh. But politics is not just about winning debating and legal points. It is much more about images and perceptions. The image of UPA2 in the public mind at the moment is that this government is caught up in too many scams. It has much to atone for. Instead of belligerence, this government should display is a sense of penitence and do what it can to clean up the mess.