The Supreme Court on Friday asked the government to respond to the CAG report pointing out largescale irregularities and favoritism allegedly by telecom minister A Raja in the Rs 70,000-crore 2G spectrum allocation scam in 2008.

A Bench comprising Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly asked Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium to go through the the draft report alleging that the Ministry of Telecom ignored the advice of the Law Ministry and the Prime Minister and alloted the license by favouring “ineligible” companies at the lower rate on first-cum-first basis by arbitrarily deciding the cut off date.

The Bench posted the matter for 22nd October without perusing the status reports filed by CBI and Enforcement Directorate into the investigations in the case.

It returned the reports filed in sealed covers to both the agencies stating that it will consider them during the next date of hearing.

Raja was represented by senior advocate T R Andhyarujina who was asked to be supplied with the copy of the CAG report.

Earlier, Subramanium said he would like to allay any apprehension that investigations would not be fair. “We are bound to conduct fair investigation,” he added.