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.

Comments

 

Other News

Master sculptor recalls the making of the Shankaracharya statue

The Golden Chisel: The Story Behind the Making of Ram Lalla  By Seethalakshmi S. and Rahul Nandan Rupa Publications, 168 pages, Rs 395  

Mumbai’s missing affordable homes

Mumbai’s real estate market keeps growing, yet homeownership remains out of reach for much of its population. Three experts – urban researcher Hussain Indorewala, urban planner Vidyadhar Phatak and developer Kamlesh Thakur of NAREDCO Maharashtra, agree that simply constructing more apartments

Rubio denies US foreknowledge of Starlink restrictions in Ukraine

US secretary of state Marco Rubio has said he was unfamiliar with the Wall Street Journal report suggesting Elon Musk had decided to throttle Starlink services in Ukraine, but rejected claims that Washington had ordered the restrictions to pressure Kyiv.   “There was no

Can AI change India’s breast cancer story?

Breast cancer has become a public-health challenge in India. The greatest opportunity is to find cancers earlier. Artificial intelligence (AI) is opening a new era in breast cancer detection. AI systems can analyse mammograms and other breast-imaging studies, identify subtle abnormalities and assist radi

Farm stability in the time of climate change

Indian agriculture is experiencing significant climate volatility, while the world economy seems to be in a highly volatile situation. Economic indices from various countries show that they need to recalibrate their strategies to withstand economic headwinds. In such a challenging situation, a country li

El Niño threatens India’s Rabi crops

India’s southwest monsoon ended with a 13% rainfall deficit in 2026, its weakest performance in a decade, raising concerns over agricultural production, water security and the upcoming rabi season. With El Niño expected to persist into early 2027, experts warn that declining soil moisture, dep

Upcoming Conferences



-->

Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter