Sibal, Vahanvati role in 2G scam be probed: SC told

Attorney General allegedly disregarded the law ministry in giving opinion to Raja on 2G spectrum

PTI | July 7, 2011



An NGO today moved the Supreme Court seeking CBI probe against telecom minister Kapil Sibal and attorney general G E Vahanvati for allegedly favouring Reliance Infocom on the penalty over 2G licences and bypassing of rules to give opinion to former minister A Raja respectively.

The application filed by centre for public interest litigation (CPIL) alleged that Sibal reduced the penalty to Rs five crore from Rs 650 crore against Anil Ambani-headed RCOM for violations in the UASL agreement.

Regarding Vahanvati, it alleged that he disregarded the law ministry in giving opinion to Raja on 2G spectrum when he was Solicitor General in UPA-I government.

"Sibal abused his position as minister to over-rule the unanimous view taken by senior DoT officials including the Telecom Secretary, to benefit a private operator by closing the issue with only a penalty of Rs 5 crore.

"This abuse of authority by him to benefit Anil Ambani controlled Reliance Infocomm needs a thorough investigation by the CBI," the application said.

The NGO annexed the documents to buttress the allegation that DoT officials were unanimous that Reliance group should be imposed penalty of Rs 50 crore per circle for "violation of the terms and conditions of Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) agreement and UASL agreement by voluntary, unilateral and unauthorized switching-off/closure of services to subscribers from USOF sites without any notice."

The matter is likely to come up for hearing on July 11.

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