Court to decide on Bharti-Vodafone chargesheet on Feb 19

Asks CBI to submit board resolutions of companies seeking additional spectrum

Special CBI court today asked CBI to submit the board resolutions of companies seeking additional spectrum, in relation to the chargesheet filed against Bharti Airtel and Vodafone on December 21, 2012.

The court postponed has fixed February 19 for its decision on cognizance of the chargesheet. This is the fourth time, the court has deferred its order in this matter. On January 30, special CBI judge O P Saini, had granted an extension to CBI on its plea that it needed time to peruse the documents related to this case.

Saini today told CBI prosecutors, “Spectrum is a costly thing. Cellular Operators Association of India was pursuing their case (companies) for additional spectrum, which means that companies must have requested for the same.” He asked the lawyers to present the papers which will establish that the companies wanted the additional spectrum above 6.2 Mhz.

CBI named Shyamal Ghosh and three telecom firms -- Bharti Cellular Ltd, Hutchison Max Pvt Ltd (now known as Vodafone India Ltd) and Sterling Cellular Ltd (now known as Vodafone Mobile Service Ltd) as accused in its chargesheet. CBI has alleged that Ghosh in conspiracy with former telecom minister Pramod Mahajan abused his position as a public person and showed undue favour to beneficiary companies causing a loss of Rs 846.44 crore loss to the exchequer. CBI alleged that this also led to incidental gain to other telcos by way of charging additional one% of adjusted gross revenue instead of charging the required two% for additional spectrum from 6.2Mhz to 10 Mhz.wf