‘Restrain Sibal till disposal of case’

2G SPECTRUM SCAM

‘Restrain Sibal till disposal of case’

By MURALEEDHARAN RAGHAVAN

JANATA PARTY president Dr Subramanian Swamy filed an interim application before Supreme Court pleading that while the matter on 2G is still pending, Union minister Kapil Sibal and the Telecom Ministry must be restrained from collecting any penalty or using its adjudication power that may further complicate the case and lead to further loss to public exchequer.

swamy GgSs6 315

This interim application by Dr Swamy is in addition to his main petition which prays for Supreme Court directions to government for cancellation of 2G Spectrum licenses issued in 2007-2008. His PIL also pleads for directions to government for holding fresh auction for these licenses and permission for participation to all eligible applicants who had applied before the pre-announced cut-off date of October 1, 2007.

Dr Swamy’s interim application comes in wake of a press report where Kapil Sibal is reported to have stated that his ministry has collected Rs.73.73 crore as penalty by way of liquidated damages for certain infractions by the licensees.

Dr Swamy in his interim application apprehended that further adjudication by telecom ministry while the whole issue is still to be decided by the apex court will lead to further complications. Dr Swamy also apprehends that, “by the payment of such compounding fees etc., rights to regularisation may be claimed by the defaulting licensees. And this may lead to further losses to the public exchequer”.

Dr Swamy who is a petitioner in person pleaded that the apex court pass an order directing that while the litigation is pending “no such and further adjudication be carried out except under the supervision (of the apex court)”. He further seeks an order stating that “all such moves will be subject to the terms of the final judgment”.

Dr Swamy raised this issue on January 10, hearing on cancellation of 2G license. However, the apex court bench of Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly decided to go by procedure and since the application was only filed on January 10 and is yet to be listed, the Bench decided to hear the matter when the case comes up in the regular course after listing.

In the meantime, Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, Vinod Rai asserted that it stood by its performance audit report on “issues of licences and allocation of 2G spectrum” that indicted the former Communications Minister, A Raja. “The value which should have been accrued to the public exchequer went as a favour to the new licensees in the form of huge capital infusion for enriching their business,” the CAG said.

The petitioners, represented by advocate Prashant Bhushan and Dr Swamy appearing in person, contended that owing to serious irregularities in award of spectrum licence, the licences were vitiated and need to be cancelled. Both petitions further demanded fresh auction of the 2G licences.

The Bench sought responses from the 11 companies which benefited in the 2G spectrum sale - Dishnet Wireless, Etisalat, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, S Tel, Tata Teleservices, Uninor, Loop Telecom, Videocon, Allianz Infra and Sistema Shyam Teleservices.

Bhushan pointed out the stipulation in the licence deed that made it incumbent on the 2G operator to roll out services within one year of date of grant of licence. They were required to start services within a year of allocation of spectrum and cover 90 per cent of the area in metros and 10 per cent in non-metros. This 10 per cent was to gradually increase to 50 per cent in the next three years.

Commenting on the 122 licences awarded in January 2008 and eight previously handed out in December 2007, the Bench remarked, “If the services were not rolled out, it is a very serious matter.” Calling for a copy of the licence agreements, the bench wondered, “If the licensees have not started their services, which are a violation of rollout obligation integral to the licence agreement, does the licence still survive?”

Arguing for a fresh auction of spectrum licences, Bhushan relied on the arbitrary cut-off date that was advanced from October 1, 2007 to September 25, 2007, to favour a select few companies, which ultimately benefited. He pointed out how companies having no previous experience in telecom sector were given “scarce” spectrum at 2001 prices. Mostly real estate companies benefited in the process, who later sold their stake to foreign companies to make “mind-boggling” profits without passing benefit to the public, for which spectrum was allotted at the first place.

Bhushan relied on the TRAI report of November 15, 2010 recommending action against the licensees for not rolling out services well over the one-year period that ended in January 2009 itself. But the Bench was unwilling to spare TRAI for its 19-month long silence. “…why did the TRAI not take any action? It is the highest regulatory body set up to act in public interest and the country. What were they doing?” the Bench wished to know.

Bhushan said the regulator’s conduct throughout the spectrum sale was doubtful as it had given contradictory recommendations when it first held no cap on licences but later pushed for first-come-first-served policy realising that spectrum was scarce. “Such is the sorry state of regulatory mechanism in our country,” Bhushan added.

Meanwhile, Dr Swamy called Congress leader Digvijay Singh ‘a liar’. The nation must reject the ridiculous self-serving unsubstantiated claim of Digvijay Singh, that telephone “records” show the Maharashtra police official Hemant Karkare, had hours before the latter was killed by Pakistani-trained terrorist on November 26, 2009 spoken to Singh about “Hindu Terrorists” and their harassment of him. The nation has not been provided with any evidence so far if what conversation, if any, took place or the duration of the call.

The photocopy of the telephone records that Singh flourished before TV media cameras, needs to be scrutinized, since the telephone number on which a call was made from Singh’s telephone, was to a general SIT number in Mumbai, and not any one of the two numbers on which Karkare could be accessed.

Hence the statement of Karkare’s wife and Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patel acquires credibility and makes out, prime facie, Singh a liar. “I shall file a RTI application to obtain the telephone records of all calls made by Digvijay Singh on November 26, 2009 and I hope Singh will give the PIO/RTI his consent to give me the records,” Dr Swamy added.

The author is Editor-in-Chief of THE VERDICT - of the reader for the reader and can be contacted at verdictweekly@gmail.com