Former Telecom Secretary nails Raja in 2G spectrum scam

NEW DELHI - Former secretary in the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), D S Mathur, has made some startling revelations on Saturday, saying he had resisted Information Technology and Communication Minister A. Raja’s attempts to give licences without first coming out with a transparent policy.

Mathur, who retired from office on December 31, 2007 said: “The minister had asked me to advance the cut-off date in October but I refused stating that it would be against the principles of natural justice.”

“When the Minister did not listen to my counsel, I told the joint secretary concerned that I would not sign any files on licensing matters, therefore no files should be put up before me,” he added.

Mathur further said the Minister wanted to award around 500 new licences in May 2007, to which he had objected saying it was not possible because there was not much of spectrum, and if such large number of licences was given and government fails to give spectrum, the companies could move to the court.

The 2G spectrum allocations caused an alleged loss of Rs1.76 lakh crore to the Government, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has stated in a damning report.

The report further states that Raja had no apparent logical or valid reasons to ignore the advice of the Law and Finance Ministries while allocating telecom spectrum to several firms in 2007-08.

The report is likely to be tabled in Parliament within ten days. (ANI)