New Delhi, Oct 23 (IANS) The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Friday demanded the resignation of Communications Minister A. Raja whose office is under the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) scanner for alleged scam in the allotment of 2G spectrum licences.
“It is shocking that Raja has reiterated that he will continue in office despite the investigation,” the party’s central committee said in a statement, reacting to the DMK leader’s refusal to quit office.

“In the interests of having a fair probe, it is essential that the minister not continue in office,” CPI-M said.

The CBI had Thursday searched the offices of the telecom ministry to probe the alleged “criminal conspiracy” between some officials and private companies in giving wireless radio spectrum to telecommunication firms.

“It has been alleged that there had been serious irregularities in the award of Unified Access Services Licences to private companies,” a CBI spokesperson said Thursday.

“As per information received, there was a criminal conspiracy between certain officials of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and private persons/companies and others to award licences to these companies,” the spokesperson said.

He said the officials had put a cap on the number of applicants against recommendations of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and “awarded licences to private companies on first come first serve basis on the rates of 2001 without any competitive bidding”.

Telecom firms in India offering second-generation (2G) mobile services get some spectrum to start with after they take a telecom licence. Subsequent allocation is done in slabs linked to the firm’s subscriber numbers.

The agency registered a case Wednesday against unknown telecom officials and private companies.

The CPI-M said a CBI investigation was “a long overdue step”.

“The Central Vigilance Commission had directed the CBI to conduct the inquiry into the scam, which involves a loss of Rs.60,000 crore to the public exchequer,” it said.

“The minister cannot evade his responsibility and involvement in the matter when all his explanations for adopting the first-come-first-serve policy have proved baseless,” the the party added.