The Supreme Court on Friday stayed all proceedings concerning the high-profile 2G spectrum allocation scam going on in the Delhi high court, citing its earlier order which had said that no court other than the top court shall entertain any plea related to the case.
A bench of justices G.S. Singhvi and K.S. Radhakrishnan gave the order on a plea by the CBI which said that around 20 applications in the 2G case were pending before the high court, after the filing of chargesheets, despite the top court’s April 11, 2011 order which had restricted all other courts from taking up pleas related to the case apart from the trial which is going on in a specially-designated court.
The applications pending in the high court include those by former communications minister A. Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and other high-profile accused in the multi-crore 2G scam case who have sought quashing of the charges framed against them by special CBI Judge O.P. Saini. Telecom groups Reliance, Essar and Loop and their promoters have also filed similar pleas before the high court. On the CBI’s plea, the bench also issued notices to all the petitioners who have filed their applications before the high court in the 2G case and sought their response within six weeks.
The SC also came down heavily upon the Centre for its decision to auction only a part of the 2G spectrum, for which the licences-to-operate were cancelled by it in February. “Prima facie, we have reason to believe that the government is not following this court’s orders but playing with the court’s order,” Justice Singhvi told additional solicitor-general A.S. Chandhiok, appearing for the Centre.
The top court had cancelled licences to operate the 2G radiowaves in all 22 circles in the country and had directed the Centre to reauction them. The Centre, however, decided not to auction some part of the spectrum. “We are very clear that in terms of our direction you have to undertake the exercise for grant of licences for 2G spectrum in all the 22 circles,” the court said.
As the bench sought to know from the government why the entire radiowaves cancelled by it were not being auctioned, ASG Chandhiok replied that the decision was taken after seeking the opinion of the Trai and the Telecom Commission. “There are five bidders for 1,800 mz but no bidders for 800 mz. Out of the telecom companies whose licences were cancelled, four have declined to bid this time,” ASG Chandhiok said.