2G scam: Loss of Rs30,984 crore caused due to govt policy, says Siddharth Behura

Former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, presently in jail in connection with the second-generation (2G) mobile telephony spectrum allocation scam, today told the Delhi high court that the "so called" gigantic loss of Rs30,984 crore to the state in spectrum allocation was caused due to the government policy and not because of the alleged acts of the accused.

"It was the policy decision of the government of the day that spectrum allocation was not meant for the revenue generation and it was meant for increasing tele-density in the country and the so called huge loss of Rs30,984 crore would have been the same even if allottees were different," senior advocate Aman Lekhi told Justice Ajit Bharihoke.

Seeking bail for Behura, Lekhi said a civil servant is bound to implement "faithfully and enthusiastically" government's policy and refusal to do so would amount to "misconduct".

"A civil servant has no other distinct identity separate from the government of the day whose policies can be tested in Parliament," he said.

The accused had no role in decisions regarding pricing of spectrum, first-come-first-served (FCFS) policy and advancing of cut-off date for submission of applications.

Behura, who joined the department of telecommunication (DoT) on January 1, 2008, cannot be held responsible for the alleged acts and policy decisions taken prior to his joining and CBI has failed to attribute any criminal acts to him.

Special CBI prosecutor and senior advocate UU Lalit vehemently opposed the plea saying "undue haste shown in awarding the UAS licences to ineligible Swan Telecom by the accused nullifies his (Behura's) claim."

"The deliberate deletion of the last sentence in the draft press release, after being approved by the then Solicitor General, made way for the manipulation in FCFS policy," he said.

Lalit said the FCFS policy was distorted by the accused including former telecom minister A Raja and Behura after deleting the last sentence in the press release, approved by the then solicitor general.

If we follow the policy of the FCFS policy then the seniority of companies should have been decided by considering the date of applications, he said.

"The accused implemented the FCFS policy in such way that the company, which comply with the terms of the Letter of Intent (LoI) first, were given priority over firms which applied for the licences before them," he said.

"The companies like Tata, Idea and Spice went down in the priority list and ineligible firms like Swan Telecom, which should have on fifth position, came on the first position," he said.

Lalit said Behura had connection with other accused even prior to his joining DoT and not only that, he even ordered transfer of his two juniors as they did not buckle under his pressure to fall in line.

The arguments on the bail plea of Behura remained inconclusive and would continue tomorrow.

CBI, in its charge sheet, alleged that Raja conspired with others and changed the cut-off date to be October 1, 2007 to ensure better prospects for his favoured companies.

"Even though the cut-off date of October 1 had been announced, accused Raja, in conspiracy with other accused, had already taken a view to keep the cut-off date as September 25," the charge sheet said.

The charge sheet said the DoT officials tried to prevent Raja from proceeding ahead with "his design to delete a clause, which would have resulted in reshuffling of the priority from the date of application to time of submission of compliance of LoI."