By IANS,
New Delhi : Former Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman Nripendra Mishra told a special CBI court Thursday that it had in 2006 recommended to the government that it should not treat the allocation of 3G spectrum in continuation of 2G spectrum.
Testifying as a prosecution witness in 2G spectrum allocation case, Mishra told the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge O.P. Saini that he had sent recommendation on 3G.
“I have shown ……Nov 27, 2006. I am not sure as to who was then finance minister, but perhaps it was P. Chidambaram. As per directions of the finance minister, I had sent to the personal secretary to finance minister executive summary and TRAI’s detailed recommendations on 3G. Also the note contained recent initiatives of TRAI on regulations,” said Mishra.
Mishra added that TRAI has recommended that the “government should not treat the allocation of 3G spectrum in continuation of 2G spectrum”.
He replied while being cross-examined by jailed former communications minister A. Raja’s private secretary, R. K. Chandolia’s counsel Vijay Aggarwal that there was no policy of first-come-first-served (FCFS) but it was an administrative process of decision making in order to be just and fair.
During Mishra’s tenure as secretary, DoT, this process continued and said that he was not aware of any change in this process of first-come-first-served policy after his tenure.
According to the CBI, Mishra was secretary, DoT, from October 2005 to March 2006. He later became chairman, TRAI, and served it for three years till March 2009.
The CBI has alleged that former telecom minister A. Raja allotted the second generation (2G) radiowaves in an arbitrary manner and caused a huge loss to the government exchequer.
According to the government auditor, the 2G scam, allegedly masterminded by Raja, pertained to a biased distribution of mobile airwaves and operating licences, in lieu of kickbacks, to telecom firms that could have cost the treasury up to Rs.1.76 lakh crore in lost revenue.
Nineteen individuals and six companies are accused in the case. Except for Raja and former telecom secretary Sidharth Behura, all other arrested accused have been released on bail.