Former telecom secretary D S Mathur on Tuesday told the court that the letters sent by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on November 2, 2007, to then telecom minister, A Raja, were not processed in any of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) files. He also said he was not aware of the letter written later by Raja to the prime minister on December 26, 2007, as it was also not processed in any file of DoT.
Mathur, who was testifying against Raja in the ongoing 2G spectrum case trial for the second day on Tuesday, also said an original letter received from another ministry or office is marked to different hierarchical levels downwards. “Whenever a draft reply is prepared by the official concerned, it is marked upwards in the hierarchy along with a note. Any reference from PMO is also dealt in the same manner,” he added.
Mathur also said one of the alternatives suggested for the allocation of 2G spectrum at a meeting of Telecom Commission and DoT officials was auctioning for new licences in October 2007. But the suggestion was not discussed even after Mathur made an independent note of it and sent it to Raja for his orders.
“While I was in the department as secretary of DoT and till my retirement, this note did not come back to me with any orders of the minister,” Mathur told special CBI judge O P Saini.
Mathur told the court that on November 29, 2007, DoT had conveyed to D Subbarao, the then finance secretary and at present Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor, that no changes were proposed in the 2G entry fee and the existing telecom policy.
Mathur also said that he was not sure if any press release regarding the advancing of the cut-off date was issued by the DoT. Mathur is likely to be cross examined by A Raja’s counsel, Sushil Kumar, on Wednesday.
