2G Trial Attorney General deposes as prosecution witness before CBI Court ex-Telecom Minister Raja goes on offensive against AG

Attorney General GE Vahanvati became the first Attorney General of India to appear as a witness in a criminal case when he was cross-examined before the special CBI court hearing the 2G spectrum case. Vahanvati also faced the ire of ex-Telecom Minister, A. Raja who reportedly stated that the Attorney General was lying before the Court..Attorney General GE Vahanvati became the first Attorney General of India to appear as a witness in a criminal case when he was cross-examined before the special CBI court hearing the 2G spectrum case. Vahanvati also faced the ire of ex-Telecom Minister, A. Raja who reportedly stated that the Attorney General was lying before the Court..As per this report, Raja said:.“The Attorney General has been telling a lie and I was in jail. Let me die but I want the truth to come out. Every decision was taken after consulting him,”.Vahanvati told the Court that although he had vetted the press release concerning the allotment of 2G spectrum, the said press release was subsequently altered without his knowledge. Vahanvati also said that the Telecom Department’s policy on spectrum allocation was not based on discussions held with either him or Pranab Mukherjee, who then headed a Group of Ministers on Telecom Policy..The cross-examination of the Attorney General is today progressing at the Special CBI Court..Advocate S.P. Minocha who is representing Siddharth Behura and Advocate Sushil Kumar representing Raja have finished the cross-examination. Cross-examination by Advocate Vijay Agarwal who is appearing for Shahid Balwa and Chandolia is currently in progress..Vahanvati has deposed that he saw the draft Press Release with scored off portion for the first time in the Supreme Court proceedings in a PIL filed for cancellation of licenses; it was annexed to Shivraj Patil Committee Report placed on record during the proceedings. He claimed that the opinion given by him on the draft Press Release dealt with issuance of licenses on first come first serve basis and not with regard to the policy or procedure or change in cut off date..Advocate Vijay Agarwal contended during the cross examination that the AG had defended the impugned Press Release on behalf of Union of India before the Delhi High Court. This was in a writ petition filed by Dr. Aravind Gupta challenging the ‘first come first serve policy’ embodied in the Press Release. The scoring off had, thus, come to the knowledge of the Attorney General then, but it was not highlighted by him. Thus, he concluded that the scoring off had AG’s concurrence. .The AG replied that he was defending the first come first serve policy in the petition and the issue of scoring off had not arisen while defending the petition. He asserted that he was defending the DoT as a lawyer and was not sitting in judgment over their actions. The AG admitted that the DoT was empowered to alter the Press Release. However, the opinion given by him pertained to the unaltered Press Release.