Chidambaram faces spectrum shock again
The Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), which had obtained the Supreme Court order cancelling 122 telecom licences earlier this month, has returned to the court with more documents and a new application, seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the role of P Chidambaram, the then finance minister, in the 2G spectrum scam.
Yesterday, Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy had moved an appeal on the same issue. The Supreme Court had earlier asked Swamy to approach the special court dealing with 2G matters, if he wanted the role of P Chidambaram, now home minister, to be probed. The special court had rejected his prayer.
In its application, CPIL has annexed several documents, which it says should be considered by the court, so that a new investigation could be conducted under the supervision of the court and assisted by a senior officer of the Central Vigilance Commission. The special court did not have these documents when it dismissed Swamy’s petition, the petition said.
The application relies on evidence which it claims shows Chidambaram overruled officials of his ministry who favoured spectrum auction and “allowed companies like Swan and Unitech to sell off their stakes, without charging government’s share of its premium on account of spectrum valuation and without enforcing his own agreement with the then telecom minister dated January 30, 2008.”
It asserts Chidambaram changed his position from giving away 4.4 Mhz of spectrum at 2001 prices to giving away 6.2 Mhz of spectrum at 2001 prices, thus causing additional losses to the exchequer. The documents include the finance secretary’s November 22, 2007, letter to telecom secretary to stay further allocation of spectrum, with a copy to the cabinet secretary, and a note of additional secretary that “the finance minister had instructed the prolific Press reports over the last two months relating to the pricing of spectrum and ‘Telecom Wars’ may be tracked.”
According to a document, Chidambaram and A Raja, the then telecom minister, met on January 30, 2008, to discuss the issue of licencing and spectrum pricing. At the meeting, Chidambaram announced the closure of the issue of reviewing the entry fee of 122 letter of intents (LoIs) already issued by the department of telecommunications. Even after the issuance of LoIs, Raja did not convert the LoIs into licences until he got clearance from Chidambaram, it is contended.
The petition annexes a large number of documents by way of correspondences and notes of meetings and concludes both ministers were well aware that mergers and acquisitions would lead to windfall gains for certain favoured companies.
For these reasons, CPIL, headed by lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan, prayed for a fresh probe into Chidambaram’s role. The court has not set any date for hearing the pleas by CPIL or Swamy. These are likely to be heard by the bench, headed by Justice G S Singhvi, which deals with the spectrum scam. The bench continues to monitor the investigations.