Chawla panel recommendations yet to be accepted: Govt to SC

To be pursued by the individual ministries in a timely manner

The Centre today informed the Supreme Court that recommendations of the Ashok Chawla committee on allocation of natural resources were yet to be accepted by the government and they would be pursued by the individual ministries in a timely manner.

Attorney General (AG) GE Vahanvati,in his note submitted before the court,has described as inaccurate a claim made by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy that the government had accepted the recommendations,one of which purportedly laid down auction as the only mode of allocation of natural resources in future. The note added that a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister on May 25 this year had decided to accept 69 out of 81 recommendations,but they would be pursued for implementation by ministries in a timely manner.

However,it has been reported that on August 9,three questions were raised in the Rajya Sabha: Whether it is a fact that the Ashok Chawla Committee has submitted its report in the wake of the 2G spectrum scam to the government; if so,the details of the recommendations and the number of recommendations that have been accepted; and how many are yet to be accepted and what is the time frame.

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Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena had,in a written reply,said that the committee gave 81 recommendations covering eight natural resources: coal,minerals,petroleum,natural gas,spectrum,forests,land and water. The government has accepted 69 recommendations,one has not been accepted and 11 are under consideration, he had said.

The note,submitted before the Supreme Court,came in response to a query raised by the Constitution Bench,headed by Chief Justice SH Kapadia,on the last day of arguments on the Presidential Reference,which has sought a clarification on the February 2 judgment in the 2G case prescribing auction as the only mode of allocation of natural resources.

The Bench had asked the AG to clarify the status of the Chawla committee recommendations after Swamy had produced a press release issued by the Prime Ministers Office to contradict the governments stand that the panels recommendations were still under consideration.

Swamy said the Centre was misinforming the court that the recommendations were under consideration even as a meeting of ministers headed by the

Prime Minister had accepted recommendations three months back.

SCs order on 2G petition against PC today

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The Supreme Court will on Friday pass its order on petitions seeking a probe against Finance Minister P Chidambaram for his alleged role in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.