2G scam: Trial court to decide P Chidambaram fate
The bench comprising Justice GS Singhvi and Justice AK Ganguly said its order should in no way influence the proceedings before the trial court while declining to give direction to the CBI on the issue.
In what can be seen as partial relief for another 48 hours to Home Minister P Chidambaram for his alleged role in the 2G scam, the Supreme Court on Thursday referred the matter of whether his role should be probed back to the trial court.
The bench comprising Justice GS Singhvi and Justice AK Ganguly said its order should in no way influence the proceedings before the trial court while declining to give direction to the CBI on the issue.
The apex court directed that the trial court should decide the matter within two weeks. The matter will now be heard on February 4 in the court of special judge OP Saini.
According to legal experts, on Saturday either the trial court can summon Chidambaram or direct the CBI to interrogate him.Refuting to accept CBI’s contention that they had already examined Chidambaram’s role and did not find any criminal culpability against him, the bench said, “Let the trial court decide the issue.”
The court’s order came on a plea seeking a probe against former finance minister P Chidambaram.
The plea stated that the finance ministry repeatedly pointed out that spectrum allocation could not be determined by the entry fee of 2001, and the finance ministry earlier backed the market-discovered price for the spectrum.
He had also claimed that since the finance ministry cannot be overruled by the telecom ministry, it was impossible for the then telecom minister A Raja to move ahead without the concurrence of the then finance minister P Chidambaram.