Fitness of Telecom officials deciding factor in spectrum -Governance Now

Fitness of Telecom officials deciding factor in spectrum

CBI files charge sheet against key conspirators

PTI | April 4, 2011

Physical fitness of the representatives of telecom companies became the deciding factor for submission of Letter of Intent and entry fees for allocation of spectrum making a mockery of first come first serve basis, the CBI said in its charge sheet against former Telecom Minister A Raja and eight others.

The CBI, which has divided the charge sheet into five sections -- probe into cut-off dates, probe into first come first serve basis, dual technology approvals and spectrum allocation, eligibility of companies and cheating government exchequer -- attempted to present the picture of events that took place during 2007-08.

"Investigations has revealed that as per the ill-conceived design of distribution of Letter of Intent and receipt of LOI compliance and entry fee, applicant company representative were required to rush to the reception area of the Sanchar Bhavan...," the charge sheet filed in the special court of O P Saini against Raja and others said.

"...as a result of the conspiracy, M/s Swan Telecom (also chargesheeted) were the first to submit the compliance for Delhi circle and M/s Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Pvt Ltd were able to get priority in all circles over many other applicants which had applied much before it.

"This desperate race to the reception area led to a lot of chaos which also resulted in a situation that physical fitness of the representatives became the main deciding factor for priority in submission of compliance of LoI and entry fee making a mockery of the first come first served policy," it said.

Besides Raja, others named in the charge sheet were Managing Director of Gurgaon-based real estate company Unitech Sanjay Chandra, former Telecom Secretary Sidaratha Behura, Raja's close aide R K Chandolia, ADAG's Reliance Telecom's Group Managing Director Gautam Doshi and senior Vice Presidents Hari Nair and Surendra Pipara and former Managing Director of D B Realty Shahid Balwa and Vivek Goenka.

Swan Telecom, Reliance Telecommunication, a subsidiary of Reliance Communication, and Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) were also named in the charge sheet.

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