SC rejects petition aginst Sibal for 'favouring' RCOM

Ask the "aggrieved" to go to the competent authority under the telecom law

deevakar

Deevakar Anand | July 11, 2011



The supreme court on Monday said “no order is required” on a PIL against telecom minister Kapil Sibal alleging that he gave undue favor to Anil Ambani owned RCOM .  It asked the aggrieved to "avail remedy under the law.”

Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly said, "If there is any irregularity allegedly connected whatsoever with telecom, it cannot be linked to the 2G," as sought in the petition filed by Prashant Bhusan of the centre for public interest litigation. The petition accused Sibal of reducing the penalty to be paid by RCOM for alleged violation in the Unified access service licence (UASL) agreement, from Rs 650 crore to five crore.

Senior advocate Rohinton Nariman, who appeared for the government in place of solicitor general Gopal Subramanium on being asked by the bench whether the matter in hand was related to 2G replied, "Not at all."

The bench further said, "Persons aggrieved will be entitled to avail remedy in accordance with the law."

Prashant Bhushan was pressing for the matter to be investigated alleging Sibal had taken a unilateral decision on the RCOM issue.

The bench also said that CBI may or may not investigate the matter. “The minister's decision may be right or may be wrong,” the court observed. It said that the petitioner can move to the competent authority.
 

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