SC bench recuses from Radia case

Counsels describe development as unfortunate; new demand for making public a probe report reportedly indicting RIL chief, Radia

In a dramatic development on Wednesday, the Supreme Court Bench which was hearing the Radia Niira tapes case and the associated charges on criminality of corporate houses, recused itself. The case will have to be heard by a new Bench, to be set up by the chief justice.

A Bench of judges G S Singhvi and V Gopal Gowda had heard for three days Ratan Tata counsel Harish Salve arguing that the tapes should not be made public and there should be some control on the media.

Senior counsel Rajeev Dhavan, representing Open magazine, which had published part of the 5,800 pages of conversations, wanted to reply to the Tata counsel, asserting the freedom of information. The Bench said he would be heard after an application moved by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) seeking investigation into new facts revealed in a document in the files of the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO).

Dhavan said the denial of opportunity to reply to Salve was “highly arbitrary, most unfortunate and filibustering”. He noted judge Singhvi would be retiring soon (December 11) and said he was being denied an opportunity to reply. “I feel very sorry for the institution,” he said, continuing to express his grievance in very strong terms.

After hearing Dhavan patiently for some time, the judges said they would not hear the case any more. They ordered that it be put up before another Bench. Salve and counsel for the Central Bureau of Investigation and the government said the turn of events was “deeply distressing”.

CPIL’s application cited documents with the SFIO which apparently indicated several illegal transactions. It claimed to have in its possession a copy of SFIO’s investigation report into the sale of the News X television channel and other issues. The report reportedly deals with a series of acts that show corporate fraud and the offences of cheating, criminal conspiracy and serious violations of a whole set of company laws. It is alleged that, through a maze of sham transactions, News X was actually controlled by Reliance Industries (the Mukesh Ambani group), through the agency of Radia. And, the report apparently recommends registration of cases under various sections of the penal code, such as 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy), against  Mukesh Ambani. It also recommends action against Radia and her group companies.

Profusely quoting from the report, the application sought a court direction to the Government of India, SFIO, Registrar of Companies and various other agencies to produce all material and reports, “arising out of or involving the investigation into the intercepted conversations of Ms Radia’s”.

CPIL also wants a direction to the government to immediately make all the intercepted conversations showing criminality and other related documents/reports accessible to the public, barring those which the investigation team finds whose release would impede the process of investigation.