Maran's letter puts PM in dock over 2G scam.

Newsbullet:Sunday,25 September 2011.

Documents obtained under the Right to Information Act by advocate and RTI activist Vivek Garg show that prime minister Manmohan Singh was part of the decision that ensured that the pricing of 2G spectrum would be decided by telecom ministry.

In 2006, Manmohan Singh approved a Group of Ministers (GoM) to look into the release of additional spectrum and pricing of the scarce 2G spectrum. That changed after he met then telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran on February 1, 2006. Maran's letter asked the PM to dilute the terms of reference and ensure that the issue of pricing of spectrum would remain with the telecom ministry.

This raised a question whether Manmohan Singh was also responsible for diluting the terms of reference of the GoM, leading to the loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore in the allocation of 2G spectrum.

The decision helped telecom minister A Raja to manipulate the pricing of spectrum, leading to India's biggest scam.