CBI defends Chidambaram,says DoT jumped the gun

Venugopal told the Bench of Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly that Chidambaram couldnt be held responsible for the DoT decision not to auction the spectrum.

A day after Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy produced in the Supreme Court a 10-page note sent by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) in March this year to the PMO stating that had the MoF in 2008 stuck to its stand on auctioning the spectrum,the Department of Telecom could have cancelled the controversial allotment of licences the CBI on Thursday defended the role of Union Home Minister P Chidamabaram,who was the Finance Minister when the licences were allotted.

Continuing his arguments on why the Supreme Court shouldnt be hearing Swamys plea for a probe into Chidambarams role in the 2G scam,senior advocate K K Venugopal blamed the DoT for jumping the gun in the spectrum allocation. He also asked the court not to rely on the Finance Ministry note.

However,the Bench dismissed a suggestion by the Centres counsel not to cross the Lakshman Rekha by passing an order on Swamys plea,observing the Lakshman Rekha was not sacrosanct.

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Venugopal told the Bench of Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly that Chidambaram couldnt be held responsible for the DoT decision not to auction the spectrum.

He stated that while the meeting of the Telecom Commission was postponed from January 9 to January 15 in 2008,the DoT on January 10,2008 issued 122 Letters of Intent (LoIs).

DoT did not want the Commission to go into it. The base price of 2001 (for the spectrum) which was extended in 2003 continued. DoT jumped the gun, the senior advocate said.

The Finance Secretary would equally be culpable if you (petitioners) are saying about the culpability of the then Finance Minister. Any one person cannot be held responsible, Venugopal said,pointing out that Chidamabaram could not have taken the decision himself on the spectrum issue without consulting his subordinate officials,including the then Finance Secretary V Subba Rao,now the Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

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He also stated that even the CAG,which has estimated a presumptive loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore in the scam,has not pointed finger towards the Ministry of Finance.

The hearing will now resume on Tuesday.