SC begins hearing on R-Tel plea

Summons order was on an application by CBI which had already examined Anil Ambani two years ago

The Supreme Court began hearing on Monday the plea of Reliance Telecom (R-Tel) against the order of the trial judge in the 2G spectrum allocation controversy in summoning its chief, Anil Ambani, and wife, Tina Ambani, as prosecution witnesses.

R-Tel opened its argument by contending its top bosses should not have been asked to appear at this late stage of the trial. The summons was on an application by the Central Bureau of Investigation, which had examined Anil Ambani two years earlier. Now, it is starting a "sequel", fishing for something, a subterfuge to cover its "shoddy" investigation, counsel Mukul Rohtagi told a bench headed by G S Singhvi.

The judge who allowed the application had stated the charges had not been proven but gave a "fifth chance" to the CBI to restart investigation, "giving a helping hand to the investigators". The court should not have permitted "revolving investigation" in this case, the counsel argued.His order would cause prejudice to the accused and by giving the prosecution yet another chance, the trial was poised to take an entirely new turn, said the counsel.

He noted 140 witnesses had been examined and only about 20 more remained. Calling moree witnesses now would unnecessarily prolong the day-to-day trial, he said.

 
Both Rohtagi and Ram Jethmalani, who appeared for other accused such as Asif Balwa and Rajiv Agarwal, asked the SC to modify its 2011 order barring other courts from entertaining any petition related to the spectrum scam. Jethmalani said he was "anguished" to state that never in the history of the judiciary had the SC appointed a prosecutor, a power given to the government. More, the SC order had also taken away the right of high courts to hear writ petitions in this matter, a constitutional power of the latter.

Since CBI has to reply to these arguments, the hearing was adjourned till Thursday. Senior counsel K K Venugopal, who represents CBI in the spectrum cases before the SC, was not present in court today as the latter has yet to issue a notice to CBI.