Former Telecom Minister A Raja on Wednesday told a special court that he had informed then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the Law Ministry's opinion to refer the matter of processing of applications seeking 2G spectrum to an empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM).
Opposing the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) allegations that he had misled the PM and incorrectly stated that the opinion of Law Ministry to refer the matter to EGoM was out of context, Raja argued that Manmohan Singh did not feel the need to refer the matter to the EGoM and the issue rested there.
"I had conveyed to the Prime Minister about it. I left it to the PM to decide on the issue. I had told him what the Law Ministry was saying and what was the view of DoT on it. The PM was empowered to constitute an EGoM," Raja's counsel Manu Sharma told Special CBI Judge OP Saini during the final arguments in the 2G spectrum case.
Maintaining that it was not his view that the Law Ministry's opinion was "out of context", he said this was the Department of Telecommunications's (DoT) view which was arrived at after due consultation with its Member (Technology) and Deputy Director General (AS).