SC to consider setting up bench to deal with 2G spectrum case pleas

The Supreme Court said on Wednesday that it would consider constituting a bench to deal with the pleas relating to the 2G spectrum allocation scam case in which all persons including former Telecom Minister A Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi were acquitted by a lower court in 2017.

A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde was urged by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the investigative agencies, the CBI and the ED, that a bench be set up to deal with various pleas relating to the 2G case.

"We will constitute a bench in January," said the bench, also comprising Justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant.

Presently, the Delhi High Court is hearing separate appeals of the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate against acquittal of all the accused in the 2G scam cases.

The top court, which had monitored the 2G probe after taking note of the PILs filed by NGO 'CPIL' and BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, on February 2, 2012 cancelled the 122 2G spectrum licences granted by former telecom minister Raja on the ground that they were issued in a "totally arbitrary and unconstitutional" manner.

However, a special court had on December 21, 2017 acquitted Raja, Kanimozhi and others.

It has acquitted 17 others, including DMK supremo M Karunanidhi's wife Dayalu Ammal, Vinod Goenka, Asif Balwa, film producer Karim Morani, P Amirtham and Sharad Kumar, Director of Kalaignar TV in the ED case.

On the same day, the trial court had also acquitted former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja's erstwhile private secretary R K Chandolia, Unitech Ltd MD Sanjay Chandra and three top executives of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (RADAG) -- Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair, in the CBI's 2G case.

Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka and directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd Asif Balwa and Rajiv Agarwal were also acquitted in the CBI case.

The apex court, in its 2012 verdict, had cancelled the 2G spectrum licenses given by Raja in January, 2008 during the tenure of UPA-I government, on which the CAG had assumed the presumptive loss of up to Rs 1.76 lakhs.