SC issues notices to telecom minister, CBI on 2G spectrum scam

The Supreme Court today issued notices to telecom minister A Raja, the telecomm ministry and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on a plea seeking court monitoring of a CBI investigation into the 2008 allocation of 2G spectrum licences.

The two-judge bench comprising Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly also sent notices to the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax Department.

The Centre for Public Interest Litigation, an NGO, and some others, have moved the SC challenging a Delhi High Court decision of 25 May to dismiss its plea to monitor the CBI probe into the alleged role of the communications minister in the 2008 sale of 2G spectrum licences by the DoT.

The court has sought replies to the notices within 10 days.

Appearing for the petitioners, advocate Prashant Bhushan, said the CBI refused to go ahead with the probe into the allegations despite documentary proof of a nexus between Raja and others.

DoT's arbitrary sale of 2G spectrum at a throwaway price of Rs1,658 crore per pan-India licence, on a first-come-first-served basis, had caused losses to the tune of Rs60,000 crore to the exchequer, the petitioners alleged.