2G case: Court slaps Rs 250 fine on R K Chandolia

Chandolia was former telecom minister A Raja's private secretary

Former Telecom Minister A Raja's erstwhile private secretary R K Chandolia, facing trial in the 2G spectrum allocation case, was today slapped with a fine of Rs 250 by a Delhi court for not asking proper question from a prosecution witness.

Special CBI Judge O P Saini imposed the cost on Chandolia after his counsel Vijay Aggarwal asked CBI witness M K Rao, a Deputy Wireless Advisor in the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MOC&IT), about his statement given to the agency's investigating officer (IO) during the probe.

"Did you tell the IO that on October 19, 2007 a press note was released by the Access group of the Department of Telecom (DoT) which states that priority of spectrum allocation will be on the basis of date of payment of licence fee for dual technology applicants?," Chandolia's counsel asked while cross examining the witness.

This question prompted the court to impose a cost on Chandolia with the judge citing the provisions of the CrPC.

"Question disallowed subject to cost of Rs 250 being in violation of Section 162 of the CrPC and the law laid down ..," the judge said, referring to a Supreme Court judgement.

During the recording of statement, Rao told the court that he had sent to the CBI the GSM spectrum allotment to various operators from January 2008 till March 9, 2011.

During his cross examination, Rao told the court that he had not processed any application during his tenure in DoT and thus, he cannot say if the DoT was following the principle of first-come first-served in processing the applications for allocation of GSM spectrum and dual technology.

Raja and Chandolia, along with others, are facing trial under various provisions of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act for their alleged involvement in the 2G case.