Friday, January 21, 2011

SC slams Sibal for CAG remarks


New Delhi: The Supreme Court said that telecom minister Kapil Sibal’s criticism of an estimated Rs 1.76 lakh crore loss in the 2G spectrum scam will not impact investigations and asked the minister to display a sense of responsibility while the probe was on.

“The CBI, which is investigating what is known as the 2G spectrum scam, is expected to carry on investigations without being influenced by any statement made by anyone,” said a bench of Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly. It tersely told CBI it was answerable to the court in the spectrum probe and issued notices to 11 companies that got 122 licences in 2008 during A Raja’s tenure as telecom minister as well as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on petitioner Subramanian Swamy’s plea.

Swamy, who sought quashing of irregular allocations, drew the court’s attention to Sibal’s recent remarks brushing aside the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report, which estimated a presumptive loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore, as “utterly erroneous”.

The petitioner said: “It was a televised press conference and the minister’s statement amounted to interference and obstruction of justice.”

The bench assured the minister’s remarks had no bearing on the probe. It said: “So far as the case is concerned, it is under virtual supervision of this court. We do not think the CBI will be influenced by anyone. Any observation made by anyone, including the minister, is unfortunate.”

“The minister should behave with some sense of responsibility. His statement will have no bearing on the investigations,” the court said.

Swamy told the court that many telecom companies, allotted spectrum in 2008, were found in breach of licence agreements. Instead of terminating the licences, the government asked them to pay fines and keep their licence, he said.

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