Former SC judge Singhvi says 2G case before apex court was different

Former Supreme Court judge, Justice G.S. Singhvi, who in 2012 pronounced the cancellation of 122 2G spectrum licences, on Friday said the case before the top court was the allocation of spectrum without auction, while the CBI court was to see whether there was a conspiracy in the allocation.

"The government at the first instance after auction said it got Rs 65,000 crore. Now it is says no loss of revenue. Who did it? It is for the people to decide," the retired judge told NDTV.

He said that the issue before the CBI court that acquitted Raja and others was different from the issue before the Supreme Court in 2012, in which all the licences issued by Raja were cancelled.

"The issue before the CBI court and the Supreme Court were completely different," he said.

"The issue before the Supreme Court was the allocation of spectrum without auction - the fundamental principle of distribution of natural resources through auction," he said, adding that he held it was impermissible.

"Whether there was a conspiracy in spectrum allocation and any corruption was not before us -- that was for the CBI court to decide," he said.

The so-called scam hit the headlines after the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its report in 2010 claimed that the Telecom Ministry had caused a notional loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the national exchequer by allocating 2G spectrum and licences to some companies at throwaway prices.

The Time magazine ranked it as the world's second-biggest abuse of executive power after the infamous Watergate scandal in the US.

The CAG report gave rise to a massive anti-corruption stir in Delhi led by social activist Anna Hazare and India Against Corruption. It became one of the main targets of the BJP against the UPA in the 2014 general election.

--IANS

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