New Delhi: Putting the entire blame on the
union cabinet and the then Telecom Minister A Raja for the
multi-crore rupee 2G scam, former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura on Wednesday told a Delhi court that he cannot be held
responsible for implementing the government policy.
Behura, one of the accused in 2G spectrum allocation
scam, told the Special CBI court that it was Raja who
"illegally" changed the policy which was not objected to by
the cabinet and he continued to "retain the confidence of the
Prime Minister and others".
"The Prime Minister was in the picture, Ministry of
Finance and Law Ministry were in the picture over the telecom
policy and he was not a lone ranger," senior advocate Aman
Lekhi, appearing for Behura, said while pressing for bail.
"If others in the government or the cabinet are not held
responsible, how can a civil servant be made an accused? Raja
continued in the cabinet, which shows he retained the
confidence of the Prime Minister and others," he argued.
He further said the loss accrued to the public exchequer
was because of the wrong policy followed by the government
during the tenure of A Raja.
"If there had been any disagreement, it should have
been brought before the cabinet headed by the Prime Minister.
If the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister and the Law
Minister did not think it appropriate to deal with it at the
cabinet, how can he, a civil servant, be liable for doing his
duty" Behura`s counsel Aman Lekhi said.
PTI
