Appearing as a prosecution witness on Monday, the former telecom secretary D S Mathur told a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court that he had asked then telecom minister A Raja to reconsider the cut-off date for receiving applications for 2G spectrum licences.

Mathur was the telecom secretary from July 2006 till December 31, 2007.

"I recorded this note after seeing the order of the then minister dated November 2, 2007, as fixing the date of September 25, 2007, may be considered arbitrary and it may give rise to legal complications later on... When I spoke to the minister, he told me that the aforesaid decision would be reconsidered and he wanted to discuss the matter in future," Mathur told the court.

He also said that in the given situation there was a likelihood of causing injustice to some applicants or the other and the purpose of writing this note was to first frame a guideline so that every applicant gets his due.

The CBI has accused Raja of manipulating with the cut-off date to favor Unitech and Swan.

Mathur said that according to a Cabinet decision in 1999, it had laid down a condition that new licences should be given only when there is availability of spectrum.

He also told the court that once Raja observed that whatever was discussed was not correctly recorded by him (Mathur) and he also said that in allocation of spectrum for dual technology, the date of payment of fee should determine the seniority.