SC slams 2G Raja ignoring PM's advice

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday slammed former telecom minister A Raja for showing disrespect to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by ignoring his reservations on the 2G spectrum allocation issue.

Raja was pulled up for showing disrespect to Prime Minister in a letter to him on the issue. The apex court pointed out that the Prime Minister had asked Raja to wait on the allocation of 2G spectrum

"After receiving letter from Law Minister for referring the matter to EGoM (Empowered Group of Ministers) and with the Prime Minister also asking him (Raja) to wait on the issue, why was it not done? It is all the more reason why you should have stopped," the court observed.

"Prima facie it appears that the Minister showed disrespect to the Prime Minister. The DoT (Department of Telecommunication) skipped the procedure and brushed aside the recommendation," the court said.

The former telecom minister was also censured by the apex court for terming as out of context Law ministry's advice to seek Attorney General's opinion on 2G spectrum allocation.

In his defence, Raja vehemently denied having disrespected the Prime Minister. "I may be guilty of various sins but not guilty of showing disrespect to the Prime Minister," Raja told the court.

Under fire on the 2G spectrum scam, the Union Government had on Wednesday distanced itself from Raja.

Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that Prime MinisterManmohan Singh and Law Minister Veerappa Moily had reservations over the spectrum allocation process.

He also told the apex court that the Prime Minister's reservation should have been given more importance.

When the Supreme Court asked the Solicitor General to explain why was the Department of Telecommunication in such haste in issuing notification of January 10, 2008 in revising the cut off dates, the Solicitor General said that the DoT should have been more transparent.

Raja had on Wednesday also refuted the Comptroller and Auditor General Report on 2G spectrum scam in the court. Raja claimed he followed Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommendations in allocation of 2G spectrum.

He said that the CAG report that blamed him for a total loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the national exchequer was highly speculative.