‘It was not for me to tell DoT what they did was wrong’

Vahanvati,who was the Solicitor General in 2004-09,also said that when he had seen the altered press release issued in January 2008 during court proceedings in a PIL challenging the new First Come First Served (FCFS) policy,he had noticed that “a paragraph was not there”.

However,he stated that though he had noticed the press release had been changed,he did not bring it up since the issue of compliance with Letters of Intent (LOIs),which was mentioned in the last paragraph,had not arisen the PIL.

The petition,said Vahanvati,challenged only the FCFS policy set out in the first paragraph of the press release.

When questioned by Advocate Vijay Aggarwal on behalf of telecom scam accused RK Chandolia on the time at which he had come to know about changes made in the draft press release regarding licencing policy,Vahanvati said that he had been unaware of the change in the cut off date,and that it was open to the DoT to “issue press release in whatever manner they (DoT) decided.”

Aggarwal in his questions had attempted to argue that since the SG had been aware of the fact that the last paragraph of the press release had been scored out,and had yet not pointed out the discrepancy,he had “given his blessings” to the policy change.

“Would you give your advice in public interest or go by the stand of ministry,even if it is wrong?” was the question raised by the defence lawyer. However,Vahanvati clarified that “I was defending the DoT as a lawyer and I was not sitting in judgment on their action.”

“The scoring off did not have my concurrence at any point of time,” said Vahanvati,who reiterated that he had been unaware of the change in the cut-off date for issuance of licences,and had given his legal opinion only on the FCFS Policy,and “not on the policy and procedures to be followed for issuance of new UAS licences and allocation of spectrum.”

“I did not highlight the change in the press release,as this question did not relate to me,” said Vahanvati.