The former Telecom Secretary, D.S. Mathur, on Monday told the special court on the 2G scam case that he warned the former Telecom Minister, A. Raja, that the Minister's action in advancing the cut-off date for receiving UAS licence applications to September 25, 2007, would be considered “arbitrary” and that it might “give rise to legal complications.”
Deposing before Special Judge O.P. Saini, Mr. Mathur said Mr. Raja responded by saying he would “reconsider” the decision to advance the cut-off date from October 1, 2007, to September 25, 2007, and that “he [Mr. Raja] wanted to discuss the matter in future.”
However, Mr. Mathur said he did not record his views in the file but personally took the file to the former Minister.
“I recorded this note [of November 5, 2007] after seeing the order of the then Minister [Mr. Raja] dated November 2, 2007, as fixing the [cut-off] date of September 25, 2007, may be considered arbitrary and it may give rise to legal complications later on,” Mr. Mathur said. “When I spoke to the minister, he told me that the aforesaid decision would be reconsidered and he wanted to discuss the matter in future.”
The CBI in its charge sheet alleged that Mr. Raja in conspiracy with his private secretary R.K. Chandolia advanced the cut-off date to benefit Sanjay Chandra and Unitech Wireless; Shahid Balwa, Vinod Goenka and Swan Telecom.
In December 20, 2011, Mr. Raja's former aide, Aseervatham Achary, testified that there was a rift between Mr. Raja and Mr. Mathur during November-December 2007.
