Ruling Hegemony Succeeds to Cover Up TWO G Spectrum Sacm and Gets Clean Chit Making Raja, the Dalit, Scape Goat! While the Supreme Court today came down heavily on former telecom ministerA Raja, it has not found any fault on the part of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the then finance minister P Chidambaram or the ministry he headed. It exposes the Gameplan! Corporate Politics Nexus EXTENDED further!
SC scraps 122 licences granted under Raja's tenure, trial court to decide on Chidambaram's role!
Customers won't be troubled by cancellation of 2G licences
In a major development having implications for the corporate sector, theSupreme Court on Thursday cancelled the 122 2G spectrum licences granted by former telecom minister A Raja on the ground that they were issued in a "totally arbitrary and unconstitutional" manner.The telecoms scandal is the biggest of several that have emerged during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's second term and has weakened him. Two ministers, including former telecom minister Andimuthu Raja, who presided over the 2008 grant process, have resigned. Raja is in jail pending trial.
Ruling Hegemony Succeeds to Cover Up TWO G Spectrum Sacm and Gets Clean Chit Making Raja, the Dalit, Scape Goat!While the Supreme Court today came down heavily on former telecom ministerA Raja, it has not found any fault on the part of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the then finance minister P Chidambaram or the ministry he headed.It exposes the Gameplan!Corporate Politics Nexus EXTENDED further! The judgement has strongly indicted Raja over the manner in which he manipulated the issue of licenses and ordered cancellation of the 122 2G licenses in 22 circles.
Imposing a fine of Rs five crore each on three telecom companies, which offloaded their shares after getting the licenses, the court directed regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to make fresh recommendations on allocation of 2G licences.
Customers won't be troubled by cancellation of 2G licences
Even though the Supreme Court on Thursday ordered cancellation of 122 telecom licences, customers will not be affected much as firms have been given four months to cease operations, allowing ample time for an arrangement so users can shift to another service provider. Mobile number portability (MNP), which is in full force across the country, will help customers migrate without much trouble to an operator unaffected by the order. "Basically, the time period of four months is the time for government to decide to come up with a enhanced market mechanism. After four months, as the licences of the firms are cancelled, their customers will obviously have the choice of opting for another player through MNP," Rajan Mathews, director general, Cellular Operators Association Of India (COAI), told IANS.
The operators whose licences are to be cancelled include some circles of Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices, Uninor, Loop Telecom, Videocon and S Tel. But the order does not affect companies that were granted licences before 2008; 3G services for which licences were auctioned will also not be interrupted. The apex court, while cancelling the licences said the whole allocation process was done in an arbitrary manner. It slapped a cost of Rs.5 crore each on Unitech, Swan Telecom and Tata Teleservices and said half of that will go to the court's legal aid services and the remaining to defence services. Varying costs have been imposed on other companies also.
Asking the government to take steps on the recommendations of TRAI within a month, a bench comprising justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly said the allocation of spectrum will be done through the policy of auction within four months. The order came on petitions filed by NGO CPIL and Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy alleging scam in the allocation of spectrum licences by Raja in January, 2008 during the tenure of UPA-I government, on which the CAG had assumed the presumptive loss of upto Rs 1.76 lakhs. The 122 licences were given by Raja for over Rs 9,000 crore, while 3G auctions for a smaller number of licences had fetched the government a sum of Rs 69,000 crores.
The companies that are set to lose on account of the cancellation of the licences are Uninor (joint venture between Unitech and Telenor of Norway), Loop Telecom, Sistema Shyam (joint venture between Shyam and Sistema of Russia), Etisalat DB (joint venture between Swan and Etisalat ofUAE), S Tel, Videocon, Tatas and Idea. Among the 122 licences issued by Raja in January 2008 on first-come first-serve basis, Uninor was alloted 22 pan India licences, Loop 21, Sistema-Shyam 21, Etisalat-DB 15, S Tel 6, Videocon 21, Idea 9 and Tatas 3. Reacting to the Supreme Court judgement Uninor, which has launched services in most of the circles, expressed shock and said that the company has been treated unfairly.
"We have been unfairly treated as we simply followed the government process we were asked to. We are shocked to see that Uninor is being penalised for faults the court has found in the government process," the company statement said. Noting that the order has not stopped the company operations for now Uninor said "we expect the authorities to ensure that our 36 million customers, 17,500 workforce and 22,000 partners are not unjustly affected." Other new operators said that they would examine the order before commenting on the future course of action.
Trial court to decide on Chidambaram's role in 2G
The Supreme Court on Thursday said the trial court will decide on Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy's plea to make home minister Chidambaram a co-accused in the 2G spectrum allotment case, IANS reported. The apex court said that the trial court should decide the matter within two weeks. Special CBI Judge O P Saini, who is hearing a separate petition of Swamy to prosecute Chidambaram, has already reserved his order for February 4. The two-member bench of Justices G S Singhvi and Ashok Ganguly found that telecom regulator Trai's recommendations of 2007 on the policy of first-come first-serve basis was placed before the Telecom Commission in October but the four non- permanent members, including the Finance Secretary, were not even informed about the meeting.
A week later, Raja accepted the recommendations of the Telecom Commission and approved the Trai's recommendation but did not get in touch with the ministry of finance to discuss and finalise the spectrum pricing formula. "However, as the Minister of C &IT (Raja) was very much concious of the fact that the secretary, finance, had objected to the allocation of 2G spectrum at the rates fixed in 2001, he did not consult the finance minister (Chidambaram) or the officers of the finance ministry," the judgement said.
Raja sent a letter in November, 2007 to the Prime Minister saying the department of telecom has decided to continue with the existing policy. He did not bother to consider the suggestion made by the Prime Minister that in view of the inadequate availability of spectrum fairness and transparency should be maintained in its allocation. But within a few hours of the receipt of the letter from the Prime Minister, Raja sent a reply in which he brushed aside the suggestion made by the Prime Minister of ensuring fairness and transparency by saying that it will be "unfair, discriminatory, arbitrary and capacious" to auction the spectrum to new applicants as it will not give them a level-playing field.
The finance secretary sent a letter in November, 2007 to Telecom Secretary and questioned how the rate of Rs 1,600 crore determined in 2001 could be applied, without any indexation, to a licence to be given in 2008. The finance secretary also emphasised that, in view of the financial implication, the finance ministry should have been consulted. Telecom secretary promptly replied by sending a letter a week later in which he mentioned that as per the Cabinet decision of 2003, the DoT had been authorised to finalise the details of implementation of Trai recommendations of 2007 that had not suggested any change in the entry fee/licence fee.
Raja sent a letter to the Prime Minister in December, 2007 that "DoT follows a policy of first-come first-serve for granting letter of intent to the applicants for Universal Access Service licence. The same has been concurred by the Solicitor General of India during the discussions." The judgement referred to the arguments that the meeting of the full Commission, which was scheduled to be held on January 9, 2008 to consider important issues of performance of Telecom sector and pricing of spectrum, was postponed to January 15.
The government had said that all the applicants including those who were not even eligible for UAS licence collected their Letters of Intent on January 10, 2008. The January 9 meeting of the Telecom Commission was deliberately postponed because the Finance Secretary had strongly objected in November to the charging of the entry fee fixed in 2001. The court found that while making recommendations in August, 2007 Trai itself had recognised that spectrum was a scarce commodity and had suggested allocation of 2G spectrum on the basis of 2001 price by invoking the theory of level- playing field.
Its recommendations became a handle for Raja and officers of DoT who virtually gifted away the "important national asset at throw away prices", the court said. The court also said the recommendations made by Trai on September 28, 2007 were not placed before the full Commission which, among others, would have included the finance secretary.
"The notice of meeting of the Telecom Commission was not given to any of the non-permanent members..... In such matter, it was absolutely necessary for the DoT to take the opinion of the Finance Ministry," the judgement said. Hours after Supreme Court cancelled 122 licences for 2G spectrum, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today held consultations with his senior colleagues on the issue and its implications.
Singh held the consultations soon after the meetings of Cabinet and Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, sources said. At the meeting, the implications of the apex court verdict are understood to have been deliberated upon. Officially, the government has stated that it welcomes the judgement and rejected suggestions that it was an indictment of the Prime Minister or home minister P Chidambaram, who was the finance minister in 2008 when the licences were issued. Telecom minister Kapil Sibal told reporters that the government will abide by the judgement that the spectrum should be auctioned.
While the government is treading cautiously on the issue, a section feels that a curative petition could be filed in connection with January 31 order of the apex court which indicted the PMO on failure to decide on prosecuting A Raja in 2G case. In that order, the Supreme Court had set a limit of four months for deciding the issue of sanction for prosecution of corrupt public servants. Former telecom minister A Raja, the prime accused facing trial in the 2G case, today completed one year in jail since his arrest in the high-profile scam.
Raja, who was the first one to be arrested in the case on February 2, last year, is languishing behind the bars as he has not yet moved any application for release on bail. Besides Raja, former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura who too was arrested on February 2 last year, is still in jail as his bail applications have been rejected repeatedly by the trial court as well as the Delhi high court. Barring Raja and Behura, all co-accused including DMK MP Kanimozhi, Raja's former private secretary RK Chandolia, Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka have earlier been granted bail by theSupreme Court, Delhi high court and the trial court respectively.
The court on October 22, last year had framed charges against Raja and 16 others for offences including criminal breach of trust which entails a maximum punishment of life term. The charges were framed under various provisions of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act dealing with offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, faking documents, abusing official position, getting bribe and criminal misconduct by public servant. These offences entail punishment ranging from six months in jail to life imprisonment.
Besides them, corporate honchos-Reliance ADA Group's MD Gautam Doshi, group president Surendra Pipara and senior vice president Hari Nair, Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra, Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar, Bollywood producer Karim Morani and Directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt ltd Asif Balwa and Rajeev Aggarwal are facing trial in the case. Three telecom firms Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd, Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Pvt Ltd and Reliance Telecom Ltd are also facing trial in the case.
SC asks CBI to submit status reports on 2G probe to CVC
The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the CBI to file status reports on its ongoing probe into the 2G spectrum allocation case to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). The court's decision came on a plea for setting up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into the 2G case, the bench asked CBI to submit status reports on further investigation into the matter to the CVC which will assist the court. The bench asked CBI to submit status reports on further investigation into the case to the CVC which will assist the court. Hailing the order, Swamy said the court's direction is a "de facto SIT".
We can be proud of Supreme Court: Swamy after 2G order Janta Party leader Subramanian Swamy on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court order cancelling 122 licences granted to telecom companies during the tenure of former communications minister A Raja. The country was proud of its Supreme Court, Swamy -- who had filed the original petition before the apex court -- told reporters after the landmark order.
"This is the best judgment which could come... the country can be justifiably proud of the Supreme Court," Swamy, who had filed a petition in the Supreme Court, said.
Licences to remain in place for 4 months
Licences held by five companies including the local joint ventures of Norway's Telenor and Abu Dhabi's Etisalat were cancelled in the verdict, calling into question the stability of business contracts and regulation in India, Reuters reported. The Supreme Court ruling said the current licences will remain in place for four months, in which time the government should decide fresh norms for issuing licences, a lawyer involved in the case said.
India's image as an investment destination was dented over the past year as the economy slowed, government reforms stalled and the telecoms scandals along with other high profile graft cases heightened concerns about government policies. Telenor has about 36 million subscribers in India and Etisalat has fewer, making them small players in a market dominated by Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance Communications.
Collective failure of Govt: Subramanian Swamy after SC verdict in 2G case
Cancellation of 2G licenses by the Supreme Court clearly brought out the big scam and it was a "collective failure" of the Government which "overlooked" warnings given by the CAG and the CVC on the issue, Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy said today. "Everyone had warned including the CAG and the CVC but the government overlooked it," Swamy said soon after the Supreme Court cancelled the 122 spectrum licences and left it to the trial court to decide on whether to probe P Chidambaram. Swamy said "it is a collective failure" of the government that 2G licences were issued in an "illegal and corrupt" manner and nobody felt that the Cabinet should be called and the licenses scrapped.
On prosecution of Chidambaram, he said, "I am very happy that the court has said since the matter is in the trial court and the matter has been reserved, the trial court perfectly competent to decide on the matter whether the Home Minister should be proceeded against or not." "It is being made clear that the trial court is fully seized of the matter. Now the CBI could not add anything by way of an investigation. "It is the best posssible judgement that could be possible for the three judges. The country can be justifiably proud of Supreme Court," he told reporters.
2G scam: Govt will examine the verdict by SC, says Pranab Mukherjee
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday said the government will examine the implications of the judgements given by the Supreme Court in the 2G case today. "Judgements have come and we will have to examine judgements and its implications. Government will examine it," said Mukherjee. He was responding to questions on Supreme Court's verdict on 2G case delivered today, on the sidelines of a customs department function.
In a major development having implications for the corporate sector, the Supreme Court on Thursday cancelled the 122 2G spectrum licences granted by former telecom minister A Raja on the ground that they were issued in a "totally arbitrary and unconstitutional" manner. Imposing a fine of Rs five crore each on three telecom companies, which offloaded their shares after getting the licenses, the court directed regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India(TRAI) to make fresh recommendations on allocation of 2G licences.
SC judgement no indictment of UPA, BJP must apologise to nation for causing huge loss, says Kapil Sibal
Dismissing the view that the Supreme Court's judgement cancelling 122 2G licences was an indictment, telecom ministerKapil Sibal on Thursday said the government will move forward in the issue after regulator TRAI make its recommendations. "There is no indictment of the Prime Minister or the then finance minister ( P Chidambaram) in the Supreme Court's judgement. If there is any indictment it is the 2003 policy (first-come, first-serve) of the NDA government and we only followed it," he told a press conference shortly after the Supreme Court judgement on the issue.
The government will abide by the judgement that spectrum should be auctioned which, he said, the ministry has done by delinking spectrum from the licence in 2011 after he took over. He said the UPA only followed the policy of the NDA government of FCFS, which has been declared discriminatory by the apex court. The BJP, therefore, must apologise to the nation for causing huge loss to the government. Asked about the implications of the judgement on the companies like Telenor of Norway andSistema of Russion who have pumped huge money to roll out services, the minister said any aggrieved corporate can approach the court for relief.
The confusion has been removed and clarity has been brought in the sector and this help in getting investments in the important sector. While blaming the NDA for the 2003 policy which the UPA implemented, he sought to shift blame on irregularities in the manner in which it was implemented on the then telecom ministerA Raja. "The Supreme Court has clearly said that the then minister (Raja) did not heed to the good advise of both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the finance ministry," Sibal said.
Sibal said that there was problem in implementation of the policy and "that is why Raja is where he is". At the same time in reply to questions he denied he was blaming Raja or UPA ally DMK. "DMK is our valued ally and they will continue to be our valued ally," he said. Asked whether Chidambaram was guilty of omission by not preventing the scam, he said how can he be blamed if there was no time for him to know that some wrong was being committed.
Asked whether the FCFS policy, which is also applicable in other sector like mining, could be impacted by the judgement, the minister said "it could be." He, however, said that the government will not pre-empt a revision of the policy in other sectors. "Why should we pre-empt, there are statutes in other sector, let the Supreme Court strike it down," he said.
From now it is a new begining and the nation will attract more investments in a sector which is crying for the investments since last more than a year ever since the uncertainties engulfed this sector. About losses to the government, he said "there is no question of loss if the policy (FCFS) is right and if the policy is faulty then you will have to calculate losses from October 2003 onward when the policy was implemented."
Asked what lesson the government has learnt from today's judgement, Sibal said "whichever minister is functioning, must consult everybody... and not commit any irregularity."
Telecom operators shocked by Supreme Court verdict, may file review petition
Jolted by the Supreme Court's judgement that cancelled 122 telecom licencesissued in 2008, the new operators on Thursday expressed shock over the verdict and indicated that they may file review petition.
The affected companies whose licences are cancelled include Uninor (joint venture betweenUnitech and Telenor of Norway), Sistema-Shyam (joint venture between Shyam Telecomand Sistema of Russia), Videocon, Loop Telecom, Idea Cellular, Etisalat DB (joint venture between DB Realty and Etisalat ofUAE) among others. Sistema-Shyam, which offers mobile services under the MTS brand and Unitech-Telenor joint venture that provides services under brand Uninor have made huge investments for rolling out the services across the nation. The companies have said that they have been unfairly treated claiming that they simply followed the government process for acquiring licences.
"Sistema-Shyam is still awaiting the full text of the judgement... The company would like to state that being a law abiding organisation, it reserves the right to protect its interests by using all available judicial remedies," SSTL said in a statement. Uninor expressed shock on the verdict and said, "We have been penalised for faults the court has found in the government process."
The new licences bundled with 2G spectrum were issued by former telecom minister A Raja in January 2008 for Rs 1,651 crore for a pan-India licence. On this, the government auditor CAGhad assumed a presumptive loss of revenue of up to Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer. According to estimates, cancellation of these licences may free about 500 Mhz of 2G spectrum which may be auctioned by the government. Leading service provider Idea Cellular said the company was unnecessarily caught in this situation of cancelled licences just because they were granted in January, 2008, which was as late as 18 months from the date of application.
"It is unfortunate that a senior incumbent operator like Idea Cellular is being made to suffer due to this cancellation of licenses, despite being fully compliant at each stage of the license allocation process," Idea Cellular said in its strongly worded reaction. Norway-based Telenor, majority stake holder in Uninor, said, "We look to the government to arrive at a fair outcome that doesn't jeopardise our lawful investments." Sistema-Shyam claims to have invested over USD 2.5 billion (about Rs 12,500 crore) so far for acquiring licences and rolling out services.
Telenor claims to have already invested over Rs 6,100 crore in equity and over Rs 8,000 crore in corporate guarantees as a foreign investor that trusts a licence stamped by the government of India. The GSM operators lobby group COAI said, "It respects the Supreme Court decision. At the same time, it is imperative that the government is sensitive to the huge investments that have gone into the sector... We are hopeful that a balanced approach will be adopted by the Government keeping in view the interest of all the stakeholders.
In a major development having implications for the corporate sector, theSupreme Court on Thursday cancelled the 122 2G spectrum licences granted by former telecom minister A Raja on the ground that they were issued in a "totally arbitrary and unconstitutional" manner.The telecoms scandal is the biggest of several that have emerged during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's second term and has weakened him. Two ministers, including former telecom minister Andimuthu Raja, who presided over the 2008 grant process, have resigned. Raja is in jail pending trial.
Ruling Hegemony Succeeds to Cover Up TWO G Spectrum Sacm and Gets Clean Chit Making Raja, the Dalit, Scape Goat!While the Supreme Court today came down heavily on former telecom ministerA Raja, it has not found any fault on the part of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the then finance minister P Chidambaram or the ministry he headed.It exposes the Gameplan!Corporate Politics Nexus EXTENDED further! The judgement has strongly indicted Raja over the manner in which he manipulated the issue of licenses and ordered cancellation of the 122 2G licenses in 22 circles.
Imposing a fine of Rs five crore each on three telecom companies, which offloaded their shares after getting the licenses, the court directed regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to make fresh recommendations on allocation of 2G licences.
Customers won't be troubled by cancellation of 2G licences
Even though the Supreme Court on Thursday ordered cancellation of 122 telecom licences, customers will not be affected much as firms have been given four months to cease operations, allowing ample time for an arrangement so users can shift to another service provider. Mobile number portability (MNP), which is in full force across the country, will help customers migrate without much trouble to an operator unaffected by the order. "Basically, the time period of four months is the time for government to decide to come up with a enhanced market mechanism. After four months, as the licences of the firms are cancelled, their customers will obviously have the choice of opting for another player through MNP," Rajan Mathews, director general, Cellular Operators Association Of India (COAI), told IANS.
The operators whose licences are to be cancelled include some circles of Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices, Uninor, Loop Telecom, Videocon and S Tel. But the order does not affect companies that were granted licences before 2008; 3G services for which licences were auctioned will also not be interrupted. The apex court, while cancelling the licences said the whole allocation process was done in an arbitrary manner. It slapped a cost of Rs.5 crore each on Unitech, Swan Telecom and Tata Teleservices and said half of that will go to the court's legal aid services and the remaining to defence services. Varying costs have been imposed on other companies also.
Asking the government to take steps on the recommendations of TRAI within a month, a bench comprising justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly said the allocation of spectrum will be done through the policy of auction within four months. The order came on petitions filed by NGO CPIL and Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy alleging scam in the allocation of spectrum licences by Raja in January, 2008 during the tenure of UPA-I government, on which the CAG had assumed the presumptive loss of upto Rs 1.76 lakhs. The 122 licences were given by Raja for over Rs 9,000 crore, while 3G auctions for a smaller number of licences had fetched the government a sum of Rs 69,000 crores.
The companies that are set to lose on account of the cancellation of the licences are Uninor (joint venture between Unitech and Telenor of Norway), Loop Telecom, Sistema Shyam (joint venture between Shyam and Sistema of Russia), Etisalat DB (joint venture between Swan and Etisalat ofUAE), S Tel, Videocon, Tatas and Idea. Among the 122 licences issued by Raja in January 2008 on first-come first-serve basis, Uninor was alloted 22 pan India licences, Loop 21, Sistema-Shyam 21, Etisalat-DB 15, S Tel 6, Videocon 21, Idea 9 and Tatas 3. Reacting to the Supreme Court judgement Uninor, which has launched services in most of the circles, expressed shock and said that the company has been treated unfairly.
"We have been unfairly treated as we simply followed the government process we were asked to. We are shocked to see that Uninor is being penalised for faults the court has found in the government process," the company statement said. Noting that the order has not stopped the company operations for now Uninor said "we expect the authorities to ensure that our 36 million customers, 17,500 workforce and 22,000 partners are not unjustly affected." Other new operators said that they would examine the order before commenting on the future course of action.
Trial court to decide on Chidambaram's role in 2G
The Supreme Court on Thursday said the trial court will decide on Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy's plea to make home minister Chidambaram a co-accused in the 2G spectrum allotment case, IANS reported. The apex court said that the trial court should decide the matter within two weeks. Special CBI Judge O P Saini, who is hearing a separate petition of Swamy to prosecute Chidambaram, has already reserved his order for February 4. The two-member bench of Justices G S Singhvi and Ashok Ganguly found that telecom regulator Trai's recommendations of 2007 on the policy of first-come first-serve basis was placed before the Telecom Commission in October but the four non- permanent members, including the Finance Secretary, were not even informed about the meeting.
A week later, Raja accepted the recommendations of the Telecom Commission and approved the Trai's recommendation but did not get in touch with the ministry of finance to discuss and finalise the spectrum pricing formula. "However, as the Minister of C &IT (Raja) was very much concious of the fact that the secretary, finance, had objected to the allocation of 2G spectrum at the rates fixed in 2001, he did not consult the finance minister (Chidambaram) or the officers of the finance ministry," the judgement said.
Raja sent a letter in November, 2007 to the Prime Minister saying the department of telecom has decided to continue with the existing policy. He did not bother to consider the suggestion made by the Prime Minister that in view of the inadequate availability of spectrum fairness and transparency should be maintained in its allocation. But within a few hours of the receipt of the letter from the Prime Minister, Raja sent a reply in which he brushed aside the suggestion made by the Prime Minister of ensuring fairness and transparency by saying that it will be "unfair, discriminatory, arbitrary and capacious" to auction the spectrum to new applicants as it will not give them a level-playing field.
The finance secretary sent a letter in November, 2007 to Telecom Secretary and questioned how the rate of Rs 1,600 crore determined in 2001 could be applied, without any indexation, to a licence to be given in 2008. The finance secretary also emphasised that, in view of the financial implication, the finance ministry should have been consulted. Telecom secretary promptly replied by sending a letter a week later in which he mentioned that as per the Cabinet decision of 2003, the DoT had been authorised to finalise the details of implementation of Trai recommendations of 2007 that had not suggested any change in the entry fee/licence fee.
Raja sent a letter to the Prime Minister in December, 2007 that "DoT follows a policy of first-come first-serve for granting letter of intent to the applicants for Universal Access Service licence. The same has been concurred by the Solicitor General of India during the discussions." The judgement referred to the arguments that the meeting of the full Commission, which was scheduled to be held on January 9, 2008 to consider important issues of performance of Telecom sector and pricing of spectrum, was postponed to January 15.
The government had said that all the applicants including those who were not even eligible for UAS licence collected their Letters of Intent on January 10, 2008. The January 9 meeting of the Telecom Commission was deliberately postponed because the Finance Secretary had strongly objected in November to the charging of the entry fee fixed in 2001. The court found that while making recommendations in August, 2007 Trai itself had recognised that spectrum was a scarce commodity and had suggested allocation of 2G spectrum on the basis of 2001 price by invoking the theory of level- playing field.
Its recommendations became a handle for Raja and officers of DoT who virtually gifted away the "important national asset at throw away prices", the court said. The court also said the recommendations made by Trai on September 28, 2007 were not placed before the full Commission which, among others, would have included the finance secretary.
"The notice of meeting of the Telecom Commission was not given to any of the non-permanent members..... In such matter, it was absolutely necessary for the DoT to take the opinion of the Finance Ministry," the judgement said. Hours after Supreme Court cancelled 122 licences for 2G spectrum, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today held consultations with his senior colleagues on the issue and its implications.
Singh held the consultations soon after the meetings of Cabinet and Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, sources said. At the meeting, the implications of the apex court verdict are understood to have been deliberated upon. Officially, the government has stated that it welcomes the judgement and rejected suggestions that it was an indictment of the Prime Minister or home minister P Chidambaram, who was the finance minister in 2008 when the licences were issued. Telecom minister Kapil Sibal told reporters that the government will abide by the judgement that the spectrum should be auctioned.
While the government is treading cautiously on the issue, a section feels that a curative petition could be filed in connection with January 31 order of the apex court which indicted the PMO on failure to decide on prosecuting A Raja in 2G case. In that order, the Supreme Court had set a limit of four months for deciding the issue of sanction for prosecution of corrupt public servants. Former telecom minister A Raja, the prime accused facing trial in the 2G case, today completed one year in jail since his arrest in the high-profile scam.
Raja, who was the first one to be arrested in the case on February 2, last year, is languishing behind the bars as he has not yet moved any application for release on bail. Besides Raja, former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura who too was arrested on February 2 last year, is still in jail as his bail applications have been rejected repeatedly by the trial court as well as the Delhi high court. Barring Raja and Behura, all co-accused including DMK MP Kanimozhi, Raja's former private secretary RK Chandolia, Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa and Vinod Goenka have earlier been granted bail by theSupreme Court, Delhi high court and the trial court respectively.
The court on October 22, last year had framed charges against Raja and 16 others for offences including criminal breach of trust which entails a maximum punishment of life term. The charges were framed under various provisions of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act dealing with offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, faking documents, abusing official position, getting bribe and criminal misconduct by public servant. These offences entail punishment ranging from six months in jail to life imprisonment.
Besides them, corporate honchos-Reliance ADA Group's MD Gautam Doshi, group president Surendra Pipara and senior vice president Hari Nair, Unitech MD Sanjay Chandra, Kalaignar TV MD Sharad Kumar, Bollywood producer Karim Morani and Directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt ltd Asif Balwa and Rajeev Aggarwal are facing trial in the case. Three telecom firms Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd, Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Pvt Ltd and Reliance Telecom Ltd are also facing trial in the case.
SC asks CBI to submit status reports on 2G probe to CVC
The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the CBI to file status reports on its ongoing probe into the 2G spectrum allocation case to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). The court's decision came on a plea for setting up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into the 2G case, the bench asked CBI to submit status reports on further investigation into the matter to the CVC which will assist the court. The bench asked CBI to submit status reports on further investigation into the case to the CVC which will assist the court. Hailing the order, Swamy said the court's direction is a "de facto SIT".
We can be proud of Supreme Court: Swamy after 2G order Janta Party leader Subramanian Swamy on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court order cancelling 122 licences granted to telecom companies during the tenure of former communications minister A Raja. The country was proud of its Supreme Court, Swamy -- who had filed the original petition before the apex court -- told reporters after the landmark order.
"This is the best judgment which could come... the country can be justifiably proud of the Supreme Court," Swamy, who had filed a petition in the Supreme Court, said.
Licences to remain in place for 4 months
Licences held by five companies including the local joint ventures of Norway's Telenor and Abu Dhabi's Etisalat were cancelled in the verdict, calling into question the stability of business contracts and regulation in India, Reuters reported. The Supreme Court ruling said the current licences will remain in place for four months, in which time the government should decide fresh norms for issuing licences, a lawyer involved in the case said.
India's image as an investment destination was dented over the past year as the economy slowed, government reforms stalled and the telecoms scandals along with other high profile graft cases heightened concerns about government policies. Telenor has about 36 million subscribers in India and Etisalat has fewer, making them small players in a market dominated by Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance Communications.
Collective failure of Govt: Subramanian Swamy after SC verdict in 2G case
Cancellation of 2G licenses by the Supreme Court clearly brought out the big scam and it was a "collective failure" of the Government which "overlooked" warnings given by the CAG and the CVC on the issue, Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy said today. "Everyone had warned including the CAG and the CVC but the government overlooked it," Swamy said soon after the Supreme Court cancelled the 122 spectrum licences and left it to the trial court to decide on whether to probe P Chidambaram. Swamy said "it is a collective failure" of the government that 2G licences were issued in an "illegal and corrupt" manner and nobody felt that the Cabinet should be called and the licenses scrapped.
On prosecution of Chidambaram, he said, "I am very happy that the court has said since the matter is in the trial court and the matter has been reserved, the trial court perfectly competent to decide on the matter whether the Home Minister should be proceeded against or not." "It is being made clear that the trial court is fully seized of the matter. Now the CBI could not add anything by way of an investigation. "It is the best posssible judgement that could be possible for the three judges. The country can be justifiably proud of Supreme Court," he told reporters.
2G scam: Govt will examine the verdict by SC, says Pranab Mukherjee
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday said the government will examine the implications of the judgements given by the Supreme Court in the 2G case today. "Judgements have come and we will have to examine judgements and its implications. Government will examine it," said Mukherjee. He was responding to questions on Supreme Court's verdict on 2G case delivered today, on the sidelines of a customs department function.
In a major development having implications for the corporate sector, the Supreme Court on Thursday cancelled the 122 2G spectrum licences granted by former telecom minister A Raja on the ground that they were issued in a "totally arbitrary and unconstitutional" manner. Imposing a fine of Rs five crore each on three telecom companies, which offloaded their shares after getting the licenses, the court directed regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India(TRAI) to make fresh recommendations on allocation of 2G licences.
SC judgement no indictment of UPA, BJP must apologise to nation for causing huge loss, says Kapil Sibal
Dismissing the view that the Supreme Court's judgement cancelling 122 2G licences was an indictment, telecom ministerKapil Sibal on Thursday said the government will move forward in the issue after regulator TRAI make its recommendations. "There is no indictment of the Prime Minister or the then finance minister ( P Chidambaram) in the Supreme Court's judgement. If there is any indictment it is the 2003 policy (first-come, first-serve) of the NDA government and we only followed it," he told a press conference shortly after the Supreme Court judgement on the issue.
The government will abide by the judgement that spectrum should be auctioned which, he said, the ministry has done by delinking spectrum from the licence in 2011 after he took over. He said the UPA only followed the policy of the NDA government of FCFS, which has been declared discriminatory by the apex court. The BJP, therefore, must apologise to the nation for causing huge loss to the government. Asked about the implications of the judgement on the companies like Telenor of Norway andSistema of Russion who have pumped huge money to roll out services, the minister said any aggrieved corporate can approach the court for relief.
The confusion has been removed and clarity has been brought in the sector and this help in getting investments in the important sector. While blaming the NDA for the 2003 policy which the UPA implemented, he sought to shift blame on irregularities in the manner in which it was implemented on the then telecom ministerA Raja. "The Supreme Court has clearly said that the then minister (Raja) did not heed to the good advise of both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the finance ministry," Sibal said.
Sibal said that there was problem in implementation of the policy and "that is why Raja is where he is". At the same time in reply to questions he denied he was blaming Raja or UPA ally DMK. "DMK is our valued ally and they will continue to be our valued ally," he said. Asked whether Chidambaram was guilty of omission by not preventing the scam, he said how can he be blamed if there was no time for him to know that some wrong was being committed.
Asked whether the FCFS policy, which is also applicable in other sector like mining, could be impacted by the judgement, the minister said "it could be." He, however, said that the government will not pre-empt a revision of the policy in other sectors. "Why should we pre-empt, there are statutes in other sector, let the Supreme Court strike it down," he said.
From now it is a new begining and the nation will attract more investments in a sector which is crying for the investments since last more than a year ever since the uncertainties engulfed this sector. About losses to the government, he said "there is no question of loss if the policy (FCFS) is right and if the policy is faulty then you will have to calculate losses from October 2003 onward when the policy was implemented."
Asked what lesson the government has learnt from today's judgement, Sibal said "whichever minister is functioning, must consult everybody... and not commit any irregularity."
Telecom operators shocked by Supreme Court verdict, may file review petition
Jolted by the Supreme Court's judgement that cancelled 122 telecom licencesissued in 2008, the new operators on Thursday expressed shock over the verdict and indicated that they may file review petition.
The affected companies whose licences are cancelled include Uninor (joint venture betweenUnitech and Telenor of Norway), Sistema-Shyam (joint venture between Shyam Telecomand Sistema of Russia), Videocon, Loop Telecom, Idea Cellular, Etisalat DB (joint venture between DB Realty and Etisalat ofUAE) among others. Sistema-Shyam, which offers mobile services under the MTS brand and Unitech-Telenor joint venture that provides services under brand Uninor have made huge investments for rolling out the services across the nation. The companies have said that they have been unfairly treated claiming that they simply followed the government process for acquiring licences.
"Sistema-Shyam is still awaiting the full text of the judgement... The company would like to state that being a law abiding organisation, it reserves the right to protect its interests by using all available judicial remedies," SSTL said in a statement. Uninor expressed shock on the verdict and said, "We have been penalised for faults the court has found in the government process."
The new licences bundled with 2G spectrum were issued by former telecom minister A Raja in January 2008 for Rs 1,651 crore for a pan-India licence. On this, the government auditor CAGhad assumed a presumptive loss of revenue of up to Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer. According to estimates, cancellation of these licences may free about 500 Mhz of 2G spectrum which may be auctioned by the government. Leading service provider Idea Cellular said the company was unnecessarily caught in this situation of cancelled licences just because they were granted in January, 2008, which was as late as 18 months from the date of application.
"It is unfortunate that a senior incumbent operator like Idea Cellular is being made to suffer due to this cancellation of licenses, despite being fully compliant at each stage of the license allocation process," Idea Cellular said in its strongly worded reaction. Norway-based Telenor, majority stake holder in Uninor, said, "We look to the government to arrive at a fair outcome that doesn't jeopardise our lawful investments." Sistema-Shyam claims to have invested over USD 2.5 billion (about Rs 12,500 crore) so far for acquiring licences and rolling out services.
Telenor claims to have already invested over Rs 6,100 crore in equity and over Rs 8,000 crore in corporate guarantees as a foreign investor that trusts a licence stamped by the government of India. The GSM operators lobby group COAI said, "It respects the Supreme Court decision. At the same time, it is imperative that the government is sensitive to the huge investments that have gone into the sector... We are hopeful that a balanced approach will be adopted by the Government keeping in view the interest of all the stakeholders.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment