'Perhaps' PC was FM in Nov 2006: Ex-TRAI chief

New Delhi: Former TRAI chairman Nripendra Misra, while deposing as a prosecution witness in a Delhi court trying the 2G spectrum case, failed on Thursday to recall conclusively if P Chidambaram was the Union finance minister in November 2006.

Testifying before Special CBI Judge OP Saini, Misra said he had met the then finance minister, "perhaps" P Chidambaram, on November 27, 2006 and was directed to sent the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommendations on the 3G to the private secretary of the minister.

"I have been shown document ... which is a brief note in token of my having met the finance minister on November 27, 2006... I am not sure as to who was the then finance minister but perhaps it was P Chidambaram.

"As per directions of the finance minister, I had sent to his private secretary the executive summary and TRAI's detailed recommendations on 3G (and) also the note (that) contained recent initiative of TRAI on regulations," he said.

Chidambaram was the finance minister from May 22, 2004 to November 30, 2008 after which he was sworn in as the Union home minister.

During his deposition, Misra said TRAI had recommended to the government not to treat the allocation of 3G spectrum in continuation of the 2G spectrum.

He said when he became the telecom secretary in February 2004, the TRAI's October 2003 recommendations were relevant.

Misra, whose deposition remained inconclusive on Thursday, said as per the TRAI's October 2003 recommendations, spectrum "would be allocated for frequency in the 1880-1900 MHz band on a first-come-first-served (FCFS) basis."

The Supreme Court on February 2 this year, had cancelled 122 2G licences granted during the tenure of former Telecom Minister A Raja declaring it as "illegal" and had blamed the government's flawed FCFS policy.