New Delhi: A former top Department of Telecom official on Tuesday told a Delhi court trying the 2G case that four counters were set up for distribution of letters of intent to eligible telecom firms on January 10, 2008 as only four directors were available in the Access Service Cell of the department. Deposing as a prosecution witness in the case, DoT's erstwhile Member (Technology) K Sridhara said the large number of applications received by the department for Unified Access Service Licence was also a reason for establishing four counters for distribution of LoIs in the committee room of Sanchar Bhawan here.
"It is correct that the four counters were set up for distribution of LoI's on January 10, 2008 in view of the fact that only four directors were available in the Access Service Cell and the applications were large in number," he told Special Central Bureau of Investigation Judge OP Saini during his cross examination by advocate SP Minocha, who appeared for former Telecom Secretary Sidharath Behura, an accused in the case.
The CBI, in its chargesheet, had alleged that the 'ill conceived' design to set up four counters to distribute LoIs to the firms made a 'mockery' of the first-come-first-served policy. It had claimed that distribution of LoIs in this manner had 'resulted in reshuffling of the priority of applicants' and benefited Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Pvt Ltd, both facing trial in the case.
Sridhara, whose recording of statement
08:03 PM, Dec 11, 2012
