A former Trai chairman on Thursday told a city court, trying the 2G spectrum case, that ex-telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, accused in the scam, told him through written communication in 2008 that the government’s action on the allocation of spectrum was in accordance with the established policy and that Trai’s recommendations were only necessary for issuing new category of licences.
Prosecution witness Nripendra Mishra, who served as chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) from March 2006 to March 2009, told the special CBI court that though Trai had repeatedly asked the DoT to consult it in case of any deviation from recommendations made by the authority, Mr Behura told him that as the matter was pending before the TDSAT and the high court, any such correspondence between Trai and the DoT was not desirable.
“…a letter dated January 23, 2008, written by Behura, the then secretary, DoT, to me.... after analysis, has concluded that the action of the government was in accordance with the established policy and it also advised Trai that in view of the matter being agitated before TDSAT and the high court, it was not desirable to engage in such correspondence between Trai and DoT as it is subjudice. On this, there was no further correspondence between Trai and DoT as government’s communication had to be honoured,” Mr Mishra told special CBI Judge O.P. Saini.