New Delhi:
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman JS Sarma told the parliamentary panel probing the 2G scam today that DMK's Dayanidhi Maran was responsible for not reviewing spectrum pricing.
Mr Maran was Telecom Minister between 2004 and 2007.
Mr Sarma, who was a senior official of telecom ministry at the time, told Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) members that a Group of Ministers (GoM) was supposed to look into spectrum pricing. But Mr Maran wrote to the Prime Minister and prevailed upon him to take it out of the agenda. This left the decision in the Telecom Minister's purview.
The JPC has now asked for all the files especially ones that look at the delay in allocating licenses to Aircel.
Mr Maran was forced to resign as Union Textiles Minister in July last year after the CBI said it had evidence that he misused his office as Telecom Minister in 2006 when he deliberately delayed licenses due to Aircel.
Mr Maran allegedly used this as a pressure tactic to force the then owner of Aircel, C Sivasankaran, to sell the company to an entrepreneur from Malaysia named T Ananda Krishnan. In return, the businessman allegedly invested Rs 600 crore into Sun Networks.