Former telecom minister Arun shourie welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision to monitor the 2G spectrum scam investigation by the CBI along with the widening of the probe since 2001. However, Shourie said that extending the probe from 2001 should not become an excuse to indefinitely delay the prosecution of former telecom minister A Raja.
?My only plea is that the new order should not become an excuse to indefinitely delay the prosecution of Raja,? he said.
Shourie who was the telecom minister in the BJP-led NDA government in 2003 when the limited mobility licensees were allowed to do full mobility through a new policy called unified access service licence (UASL), also said, ?In any event, the new order is an opportunity to demonstrate how honest decisions were taken by honest persons. And to establish that the department of telecom has not always been led by the Rajas?.
?At this distance, I am not able to visualise the arguments that have occasioned the order to extend the inquiry to 2001. The decisions taken then were the subject of extensive examination by TDSAT and the Supreme Court itself, and were upheld by rulings of the former and judgments of the latter,? Shourie said.
The reference is to the fact that the limited mobility policy was approved by the TDSAT and the UASL was never challenged by the cellular operators.