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The former Telecom Secretary, Mr Siddharth Behura, has blamed the then Telecom Minister, Mr A. Raja, for the irregularities in spectrum allocation.
Deposing before the Joint Parliamentary Committee on spectrum, Mr Behura, who was in Tihar Jail for his involvement in the scam, said he had differences with the Minister over changing the cut-off date and the ‘first-come-first-served’ policy.
Mr Behura is currently out on bail.
‘Technical issues’
Briefing newspersons after the meeting, the JPC Chairman, Mr P. C. Chacko, said members questioned the Ministry’s decision to postpone a meeting of the Telecom Commission just ahead of the allocation of spectrum licences.
Mr Behura told the members that the Commission’s meeting was cancelled on certain technical issues and allocation of licences was not part of its agenda.
He said he had objected to the decision and Mr Raja overruled him. The cut-off date was advanced from October 30, 2007 to September 25, 2007.
“He told us that the cut-off date was advanced to limit the number of applicants to 232. He said it was an unusual decision, but the situation demanded it,” Mr Chacko said.
Mr Behura said there was no ‘first-come-first-served’ policy as all the 232 applications were processed together. He said he had differences with Mr Raja over the policy’s implementation.
Ineligible applicants
On the issue of ineligible applicants, he said he was merely accepting suggestions from his subordinates.
“He said the Secretary has a limited role in scrutinising individual applications and that several cells under the Department dealt with the applications before brining it to the Secretary,” Mr Chacko said.
Mr Behura also criticised the Comptroller and Auditor General for commenting on a policy matter of the Government. Mr Behura was Telecom Secretary between January 1, 2008 and September 30, 2009.
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