New Delhi: Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy on Friday told the Supreme Court that home minister P Chidambaram as the then finance minister had given his nod for the allocation of extra spectrum to service providers even before they had fulfilled their roll out obligations.
Swamy told the apex court bench of Justice GS Singhvi and Justice KS Radhakrishnan that the former communications minister A Raja has been already charged for under pricing the spectrum and Chidambaram was party to Raja’s decision to allocate extra spectrum even though the service providers had not fully utilised the spectrum that was already with them.
He said that this was sufficient for proceeding against Chidambaram as under the Prevention of Corruption Act, it was not incumbent upon him to prove a prima facie case of guilty mind against Chidambram as was held by the trial court while rejecting his (Swamy’s) plea to make him a co-accused.
Under the new provisions of the act, he was not obliged to prove that Chidambaram had a criminal intent to commit an offence of corruption, said Swamy in the course of the hearing of the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) and Swamy’s plea seeking a court-monitored Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into Chidambaram’s role in fixing the 2G spectrum price along with Raja in 2008.
The CPIL in its application has pleaded for direction to the CBI to conduct a thorough investigation into the role of the finance ministry under the then finance minister (Chidambaram) in the 2G spectrum scam “under the close supervision of the Supreme Court assisted by the Central Vigilance Commissioner and thesenior Vigilance Commissioner.”
Swamy has challenged the Special CBI court’s verdict rejecting his plea to make Chidambram a co-accused in the 2G scam for his role in consenting for the issuance of 2G licences in 2008 at 2001 prices.
Recently, the Supreme Court was told that Home Minister P. Chidambaram, in his earlier capacity of finance minister, overruled officials who favoured an upward revision of the 2G telecom licence fee in 2008.
The officials maintained that either 2G licences should be auctioned or there should be an upward revision in their prices and they should not be allocated in 2008 at 2001 prices, the court was told by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL).
“The officials of the finance ministry kept on saying that you cannot give spectrum in 2008 at 2001 prices,” the CPIL told an apex court special bench of Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice K.S.P. Radhakrishnan hearing the 2G case.
The court is hearing pleas by the CPIL and Janata Party president Swamy. (IANS)