Court raps CBI for ‘dragging feet’ on 2G scam

The Supreme Court on Friday hammered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which had sought six more months to complete its inquiry into the scam in allotment of 2G (second generation telecom) spectrum contracts, which caused the exchequer a loss of Rs1.23 lakh crore over two years ago.

Terming its probe “slipshod,” the court said the agency was merely “dragging its feet.” It also raised brows at telecom minister A Raja, who executed the deal then and continues to be a minister even now.

“You (CBI) have not done anything. Is that the way government functions? Do you follow the same standards in other cases? One year has (already) gone by,” a bench of Justices GS Singhvi and A K Ganguly fumed.

“Will it take another 10 years to complete the investigation?” the bench asked.

The CBI’s plea for six months’ adjournment is politically important in view of the impending assembly elections in Tamil Nadu. Raja belongs to the DMK, which runs the Tamil Nadu government and is an ally of the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre.

During the hearing of the appeal filed by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation against a ruling of the Delhi High Court, which refused to order a probe into the country’s biggest scam during the UPA-I regime, the judges noted that though the CBI had registered a complaint, it was against “unnamed”
persons.

That’s despite the Comptroller and Auditor General interim report specifying the role of Raja and one Neera Radia among others in handing over the spectrum at a throw away price.

The judges also sought the government’s response on the CAG report highlighting large scale discrepancies in allotment of spectrum licences to companies having interests in real estate, shipping and software business.

Gopal Subramanium, DoT’s lawyer and the Solicitor General, said the government is bound to conduct a fair and independent inquiry.

“But we need at least six months to come to a definite conclusion,” he added.

The judges refused to grant that much time and asked the CBI and other respondents to file their response by November 15.

Incidentally, Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy’s petition seeking a direction to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to grant sanction to prosecute Raja is also pending before the court. It may be heard along with CPIL’s case.