Raja-PM letters not filed in DoPT

Mathur was referring to three letters exchanged between Raja and the PM on November 2

Former secretary of Department of Telecom Dinesh Shankar Mathur,deposing as prosecution witness before the 2G court on Tuesday,implied former minister A Rajas November 2,2007 correspondence with the PM was not dealt with as per established procedures.

Mathur,who retired on December 31,2007,and was succeeded by Siddhartha Behura,an accused in the case,was referring to three letters exchanged between Raja and the PM on November 2.

I have not seen these letters being processed in any file of the DoT, he said,adding that a December 26,2007 letter from Raja to the PM was also not processed.

Earlier,he explained that a letter received from another ministry is sent to the concerned section in the DoT,where the concerned lowest-level-officer drafts a reply. This draft is approved by the officer in whose name the reply is sent. Any reference received from the PMO is also dealt with in the same manner, he said.

Raja initiated the letters on November 2,when he wrote suo motu to the PM explaining his decision to reject the TRAI proposal to auction spectrum licences and a Law ministry advice to refer the policy of allocation of licences to a Group of Ministers. News reports have since claimed that Raja wrote this letter in anticipation of the PMs letter,which reached him the same day.

The PMs letter has been used to point out that Manmohan Singh had warned Raja against wrongdoing. Pointing out that companies,media and the TRAI had raised a number of issues relating to the allocation of spectrum,Singh wrote,I would like you to give urgent consideration to the issues being raised with a view to ensuring fairness and transparency and let me know of the position before you take any further action in this regard.

As per the statement of Aseervatham Achary,a prosecution witness and a bureaucrat in Rajas personal staff,the reply to the PMs letter was dictated by Raja after 9 PM and before 11:30 PM on November 2. Achary told the court that apart from him,Rajas personal secretary R K Chandolia and member of his personal staff Esakki Rajan took turns in typing the letter. Achary did not mention seeing Mathur there.