New Delhi: Former Telecom Secretary
Siddharth Behura, presently in jail in connection with the 2G
scam on Wednesday told the Delhi High Court that the "so called"
gigantic loss of Rs 30,984 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 Rs 30,984 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 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 U U Lalit
vehemently opposed the plea saying "undue haste shown in
awarding the UAS licenses 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.
PTI
