SC orders CBI action against Bharti, Vodafone

Others named in probe agency report include ex-telecom secy and dy director general

The Supreme Court today directed the CBI to “take action in the matter of prosecution” of the telecom companies and public servants mentioned in its report prepared by the outgoing director, AP Singh.

The three companies involved in the proceedings before the court were Bharti Cellular, Vodafone Essar Mobile, Mumbai and Delhi, and Vodafone to which the last two have merged. The public servants whose names were discussed in the proceedings include ex-telecom secretary Shyamal Ghosh and JR Gupta, deputy director general.

Since the CBI report in the 2G spectrum scam submitted to the bench consisting of Justice GS Singhvi and Justice KS Radhakrishnan was in a sealed cover and they ordered the immediate sealing after the hearing, the full list of accused persons is not available at the moment.

 

The order was passed in the petition moved by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, represented by counsel Prashant Bhushan. Senior counsel KK Venugopal, representing the CBI, handed over the report to the judges and stated that the present director is retiring today and the new one will take over on Friday. The judges said that whoever it is, the recommendations have come from the highest officer. The change at the top would not affect the matter, the court observed.

It is alleged in the petition that there was a conspiracy between the companies and the officials during the tenure of late telecom minister Pramod Mahajan which caused huge losses to the exchequer.

About the excess spectrum given to the companies it was stated that there were differences among the CBI officials and therefore the matter was referred to the Attorney General. Without referring to the controversy, the court today ordered action on the CBI report.