Former TRAI chairman Nripendra Misra, while deposing as a prosecution witness in the 2G case, failed to recall conclusively if P Chidambaram was the Union finance minister in November 2006.
Former TRAI chairman Nripendra Misra, while deposing as a prosecution witness in a Delhi court trying the 2G spectrum case, failed today to recall conclusively if P Chidambaram was the Union finance minister in November 2006.
Testifying before Special CBI Judge O P Saini, Misra said he had met the then finance minister, "perhaps" P Chidambaram, on November 27, 2006 and was directed to sent the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommendations on the 3G to the private secretary of the minister.
"I have been shown document ... which is a brief note in token of my having met the finance minister on November 27, 2006... I am not sure as to who was the then finance minister but perhaps it was P Chidambaram.
"As per directions of the finance minister, I had sent to his private secretary the executive summary and TRAI's detailed recommendations on 3G (and) also the note (that) contained recent initiative of TRAI on regulations," he said.
Chidambaram was the finance minister from May 22, 2004 to November 30, 2008 after which he was sworn in as the Union home minister.
During his deposition, Misra said TRAI had recommended to the government not to treat the allocation of 3G spectrum in continuation of the 2G spectrum.
He said when he became the telecom secretary in February 2004, the TRAI's October 2003 recommendations were relevant.
Misra, whose deposition remained inconclusive today, said as per the TRAI's October 2003 recommendations, spectrum "would be allocated for frequency in the 1880-1900 MHz band on a first-come-first-served (FCFS) basis."
The Supreme Court on February 2 this year, had cancelled 122 2G licences granted during the tenure of former Telecom Minister A Raja declaring it as "illegal" and had blamed the government's flawed FCFS policy.
Misra said as per TRAI's November 2003 recommendations, there was no first-come-first-served policy but it was the part of the administrative process of decision making in order to be "just and fair".
He said as telecom secretary, he was also ex-officio head of the telecom commission. He said issuing spectrum beyond 12.4 MHz was not an illegal act.
"It is wrong to suggest that issuing spectrum beyond 6.2 + 6.2 MHz was an illegal act. It is wrong to suggest that such an illegal allocation was done during my tenure and that is why, I am concealing fact on this point. It is wrong to suggest that I am trying to project an illegal act as legal," he said.
During his testimony, Misra failed to recall if any company, which had applied for the licences, would keep its finances ready for being deposited with the Department of Telecom (DoT) at the time of filing of application itself.
"As a lay person, I say that it is not illegal for an applicant (company) to keep his finances ready for such purposes. I do not recall if this is the requirement in the UASL Guidelines 2005 also," he said.
He said as per the documents, liberalisation of FDI was one of the reasons for the growth of telecom sector in India.
Misra said as per the August 2007 TRAI recommendations, if an operator fails in roll-out obligation, it was required to furnish additional bank guarantee and also to comply with other conditions in lieu of termination of licence.
He said in India the power to manage the spectrum lies with DoT.
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