The 2 G and Coalgate Scams are likely to stay. These two were electoral issues in 2014 and most likely to cloud the political environment in 2019 as well but with a difference. Congress party which was on back foot on allegations of 2 G scam in 2014 has received a shot in the arm and launched an offensive as much as forcing ruling BJP to duck.
It was a grief and joy for Congress in the last fortnight of 2017. On December 19, the sentencing of former Jharkhand Chief Minister MadhuKoda and senior bureaucrats in Coalgate Scam numb Congress but on the acquittal of all the accused in 2 G Scam came as a blessing for the grand old party of India. It was definitely ‘the day of Congress’ which was continuously receiving flaks all the corners – judiciary, media and opposition. Senior Congress leaders it ‘falsehood’ propagated by former CAG VinodRai, ‘hysteria’ of media and 'propaganda of political opposition. However, Union Finance ArunJaitley initially launched a counter offensive by mocking the Congress not to take the judgment as 'badge of honour' but soon BJP changed her strategy asking CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) to issue official statements. Even the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, known for his silence, called the 2 G scam as ‘propaganda’. Both the sides demanded their rivals to apologise. Who should apologize and for what? This needs a threadbare analysis of the 2 G Scam at two levels.
Should eminent civil activists apologize?
The 2 G Scam in the Supreme Court was not brought by any politician. It was a civil matter filed through Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by PrashantBhushan, P. GuhaThakurta, and three former election commissioners of Indian along with some other eminent civil activists. In a civil mater, the accused are not punished with imprisonment but maximum punishment is declaring the decision null and void by pronouncing it illegal, unconstitutional and imposing heavy monetary penalty. In her 94 page judgment, the SC has also praised the civil activists for exposing the matter. Commenting on the process of spectrum allocation the SC observed “This arbitrary action of the Minister of C&IT though appears to be innocuous, actually benefitted some of the real estate companies who did not have any experience in dealing with telecom services and who had made applications only on 24.9.2007, the cutoff date fixed by the minister A. Raja,”. The court also observed that A Raja overruled all – Group of Ministers, Council of Ministers, Cabinet and even the Prime Minister to benefit certain parties.
In her decision on February 2, 2012 on 2 G Scam, the Supreme Court used punished the accused in three ways – entire decision was declared illegal and unconstitutional, entire process of spectrum allocation was declared ab initio void and heavy penalty were imposed on the accused. In her decision, the apex court imposed a fine of totaling Rs 17 crore – Rs 5 crore on three beneficiaries and Rs 50 lakh on four others. The court also ordered that half of the penalty amount be deposited with court to be used in assisting poor litigants and ordered the accused to deposit remaining amount in welfare fund of defense forces. Wasn’t it punishment to the corrupt? This immediate income of Rs 17 crore in the public exchequer can’t be called zero. In a country like India this is huge money enough to ‘purchase’ a couple of top bureaucrats or politicians. The construction cost of a Mohalla Clinic – the much popular and highly acclaimed community health center of Delhi government, is around Rs 20 lakh. We can safely assume, the fine imposed on culprits is equivalent to 85 Mohalla Clinics in Delhi. Was it a certificate of honesty?
Should CAG apologize?
The CAG had estimated a loss of Rs 3.52 lakh crore (Rs 1.76 lakh core each) to the public exchequer in two major scams – 2 G Scam and Coalgate Scam of UPA -2. In pursuance of various orders of the Supreme Court, all the allocations were cancelled. By 2015, the incumbent government availed Rs 2.07 lakh crore from reallocation of 34 out of 201 cancelled coal blocks. Thus loss to the government exchequer by Coalgate Scam is much higher than estimated by CAG. However, the Central government has availed around Rs 94,000 crore from reallocation of spectrum cancelled after the court order. This amount is certainly less than the loss estimated by CAG but more than Rs 30, 984 crore loss calculated by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under the supervision of Supreme Court. In both the scams – 2 G and Coalgate, collectively, the maximum loss to the public exchequer was Rs 3.52 lakh core out of which Rs 3, 01,017 have been recovered, including the fine of Rs 17 crore. In 2017-18, Delhi government presented a budget to the tune of Rs 48,000 crore for the national capital city. Thus the amount recovered from these two scams so far is around 6.3 times than annual budget of Delhi government. In nut and shell we can say this is more than the entire money Delhi government can expend for its citizens in five years. How Congress leaders and their supporters are calling it ‘zero loss’ and demanding apology from CAG?
Both Congress and BJP need due apology for their share of the sin
The 2 G case in the special court of CBI was a ‘criminal matter’. Here the issue before the court was – whether the connivance of politicians, bureaucrats and business tycoons which resulted in a huge scam; was a crime? Can the accused be punished with imprisonment, the maximum punishment in India for a criminal offense (except in rare of rarest cases)? The conclusion of the judgment in CBI special court is – the evidence were strong enough to bring the culprits to ‘face trail’ but not strong enough to award them imprisonment. However, both the agencies – CBI and Enforcement Directorate; have decided to challenge the decision in the High Court. In the last paragraph of the judgment, the SC categorically said, “It is made clear that the observations made in this judgement shall not in any manner, affect the pending investigation by CBI, ED and other agencies or cause prejudice to those who are facing prosecution in the cases registered by the CBI … the special judge shall decided the matter uninfluenced by this judgment,”. Thus the judgment of CBI court is not in contravention but in continuation of the SC judgment. However, in Coalgate Scam the former Chief Minister of Jharkhand MadhurKoda, former Chief Secretary, Coal Secretary of Union of India and other officers were punished by the respective CBI court. This matter is also in concerned High Court.
The onus of apology goes to Congress lead UPA-2 government for being punished in civil offense and BJP led NDA – 2 for its slackness in getting the culprits prosecuted in criminal matter. Auditors of CAG have been vindicated and the civil activists and jurists need a big hand to recover such a huge amount back in the public exchequer.
(The writer is a freelance journalist)