JPC to Summon Raja, Behura
NEW DELHI: The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on Wednesday decided to summon former Telecom Minister A Raja and former Telecom secretary Siddharth Behura to depose before it.
The JPC, which is examining the allocations and pricing of telecom licences and spectrum, has summoned Behura on April 11.
However, it is yet to decide on when to call Raja.
According to sources, it was DMK member Tiruchi Shiva who suggested in the meeting that Raja should be summoned to find out the alleged illegality committed by the former Telecom minister.
Former Telecom secretary D S Mathur appeared before the JPC on Wednesday and learnt to have told the committee that Raja followed the advice of DoT and its officials on several issues, including the decisions on the
first-come-first-served policy, the procedure to be adopted and vetting of applications, sources said.
Mathur, who held the position between July 2006 and February 2007, claimed that he had opposed some of the decisions of Raja. However, he admitted that he had not registered his dissent on record. Mathur was grilled on whether there were any procedural irregularities by the Telecom Commission, in which he was ex-officio Chief as Telecom secretary, in adopting recommendations of telecom watchdog, the TRAI.
Mathur told the committee that the follow-up action by the Telecom Ministry had led to the issuance of 2G licences. Both Raja and Behura are currently lodged in Tihar jail.