JOIN USChacko now targets CAG on presumptive loss
The Joint Parliamentary Committee draft report on 2G scam has virtually attacked the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), accusing the constitutional body of failing to appreciate the telecom success story and instead digging out astronomical presumptive loss which, as per the panel, was not only “ill conceived” but also brought “disrepute to the country.
The presumptive loss theory which was not backed by proven facts caused disrepute to the country heavily, said the draft report which has created a political storm as it exonerated Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
The draft report prepared by panel head P C Chacko, criticised the constitutional body stating that the policy formation is the prerogative of the government in a welfare state and “which should under no circumstance be subjected to audit or calculation of loss”.
On the government auditor’s loss figure of Rs 1.76 lakh crore, the report said “the committee is of the considered view that the very move for calculation of any loss on account of allocation of licences and spectrum is ill-conceived.
“It is imperative that the calculation of loss to the exchequer on account of allocation of licences and spectrum has to be viewed in the context of the overall policies laid down for the telecom sector from time to time...,” the draft report said.
On the CAG argument that the Income Tax Act has certain provisions for levy of tax on presumptive basis, the draft report said that presumptive taxation involves lump sum levies on certain small-scale business activities.
Besides Ministry of Law and Justice defined the word “presumptive” as resting on presumption and clarified that presumptive loss is not conclusive or may not be the actual loss. The very concept of calculation of “presumptive” loss in the context of allocation of licences and spectrum in a CAG report is misleading, the committee draft report said.
Further, the committee observed that audit reports are not intended for the purpose of generating debate for determining actual loss to the exchequer. Moreover, the extant policy of the government for the telecom sector enjoys precedence and needed due reckoning by the supreme audit institution of the nation.
In the backdrop of the disrepute caused to the nation on account of projection of such astronomical figures in the audit report pitching the country among the most corrupt nations in the world, the committee in hindsight could only wish that the figures projected in the report could have been more realistic deriving out of proven facts.