Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram got a major relief from the Supreme Court on Friday when it rejected petitions filed by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy and the Centre for Public Interest Litigation seeking a CBI probe into his alleged role in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.
A Bench of Justices G.S. Singhvi and K.S. Radhakrishnan dismissed Dr. Swamy’s appeal against a trial court order that rejected his plea to make Mr. Chidambaram a co-accused along with the former Telecommunications Minister, A. Raja, and the CPIL’s application in this regard. The Bench rejected the criminal conspiracy charge against Mr. Chidambaram on the ground that he had a meeting with Mr. Raja prior to spectrum allocation. Dr. Swamy had alleged that Mr. Chidambaram was a party to two decisions — “keeping the spectrum prices at the 2001 level and dilution of equity by the two companies.” The trial court held that these two acts were per se not criminal acts.
Justice Radhakrishnan said: “Criminal conspiracy cannot be inferred on the mere fact that there were official discussions between the officers of the MoF [Ministry of Finance] and that of the DoT and between two Ministers, which are all recorded. Suspicion, however strong, cannot take the place of legal proof and the meeting between Mr. Chidambaram and Mr. Raja would not by itself be sufficient to infer the existence of a criminal conspiracy so as to indict Mr. Chidambaram.”
The Bench noted that Mr. Chidambaram and Mr. Raja met on May 29 and June 12, 2008 for resolving the then outstanding issues of allocation and pricing 2G and 3G spectra. “Meeting of two Ministers would not by itself be sufficient to infer the existence of a conspiracy. Even before those meetings, as instructed by the Finance Minister, the Finance Secretary and the Telecom Secretary met on April 24, 2008, [and] had agreed that it might not be possible to charge operators already having allocation up to 6.2 MHz and the principle of equity and level playing field would require that the operators who get fresh allotment of spectrum up to 6.2 MHz for GSM too should not be charged for spectrum up to 6.2 MHz for GSM. Therefore, the allegation that Mr. Chidambaram conspired with Mr. Raja is without any basis.”
Keywords: 2G case, 2G spectrum scam, JPC probe, A Raja, EGoM, spectrum allocation, Chidambaram, Subramanian Swamy
Will the honorable judges of the Supreme Court explain to us, why did
Mr. Chidambaram fail to stop a huge scam like 2G, if it was not any
criminal conspiracy. I would like to know if they feel only A Raja did
the entire 2G scam!
Your report says that Professor Swamy's plea in the petition was for a CBI probe into Mr Chidambaram's "alleged" role in the 2G spectrum scam. It doesn't seem to be right. As far as my understanding goes, Prof. Swamy has pleaded for making Mr. Chidambaram a co-accused along with the former Telecommunications Minister, A. Raja. Therefore, it would appear that the Court has rejected a plea that Prof. Swamy did not make. Usually, when a court delivers such judgments in which one or more orders are not directly related to the pleas, it ratiocinates the order(s) as being in the interests of justice and fair play.
Supreme Court verdict has only upheld what is common sense.
Neither the policy of allotting spectrum at such prices which saw the road side mobile vegetable vendors and the rural and urban poor get to use modern communication devices at affordable prices
nor
the dilution of equity allowed by Companies Act and SEBI rules currently in vogue in India used by two firms to raise funds and improve the networth are illegal.
In fact even if bid by auction route, private players would have gained. So what was all the fuss about other than a case of pot calling the kettle black?
Of course the manner in which policy was apparently implemented or that alternative pricing policy that could still have served the intent of increasing teledensity with more revenue accruing to the treasury from private players was a moot point that was raised and not considered by the then minister.
But that was and is still no reason to stall parliament and sully the democratic institutions of India.
"The Bench rejected the criminal conspiracy charge against Mr. Chidambaram ...."
It suggests that the "amazingly" Supreme Court Bench did not understand the actual charge(s) despite having taken several months to deliberate on the proceedings. This is a ridiculous verdict.
Swamy has been maintaining right from the beginning, or at least after the verdict of the trial court that "criminal intent" or criminal conspiracy is irrelevant to the case per POC (Prevention of Corruption ) Act.
In effect, the Supreme Court Bench provided a judgement to an arbitrary charge that wasn't even in question. What a shame!
People will not forgive this SC bench ever.
How can you obtain evidence of his getting pecuniary benefits if you
block an investigation into the matter in the first place?
This judgement ( as reported above ) has createed a precedent and serious implications for the future. Hope that this ruling is visited upon and turned down upside by the Supreme Court in the not distant future.
Why is he smiling? The court said he is not criminal. Just a poor manager! Even though he has an MBA from Harvard. Funny.
Our Honourable Finance Minister must be a much relieved man now. Lack of efficiency in Handling 2g Spectrum is much better than a Criminal Conspiracy in dealing with it.
Though our Country lost much to its exchequer Our Finance Minister could save his face from utter disgrace.
Even otherwise he is credited with more acumen than originally attributed to him, as per the version of eminent economists.
In that context also he deserves a fair chance and deal to continue as India's FM.
I only hope atleast now good sense prevails after successive defeats by swamy and does not waste public time by making a case when there is no case in the first place. I guess it may be because he has got no personal cases coming to him unlike Arun Jaitley, Abishek, Salve. So to be on media he makes false cases to be in the limelight. Swamy is exposed and needs to introspect as the public knows quite well that he is a defeated clown.
Just like saying there is no God/Supernatural power does not mean that
it is not at par with that level to visualise .. It is lack of skill
of that level/knowledge Same way absence of evidence does not mean
that he is Clean of all allegations as a person of
high calibre he is no fool to keep evidences against himself. Time is in his favour to hide behind. His family was loyal to Britishers and so Father was
Knighted as "SIR" when patriots were tortured hanged by neck for
freedom struggle. Always remained in power whichever dynasty it was. to my opinion he has proved Freedom fighters as
IDIOTS. We were slaves
then and now also except Masters changed.
Even if it is only poor management of the country's wealth by the then Finance Minister which resulted in the 2G scam, Mr.Chidambaram should resign as Finance Minister here and now even though the poor management in allocation of spectrum cannot be said to be a product of criminal conspiracy as declared by the Supreme Court.The Finance Minister is the trustee of the country's physical assets which have a financial value and are owned by the government on behalf of the people of this country.
Whatever may be said about the corruption in the judiciary the topmost one appears to be on a much more honest level. Both Mr Chidambaram and Mr Swamy are brilliant. The only difference is that one has attained a stature and can probably lead the nation if given a chance, while the other uses his brains to bring him dowm. There are so many politicians in Mr Swamy's state but he seems to blind to their offences and has his whole life focused on bringing Chidambaram down. He will die a bitter man. What a waste of good talent.
This UPA govt sat on the 2G Spectrum scam for 14months without taking
any action until forced by Apex court. This is the very same govt,
which is not ready to release the names of black money a/c holders,
the very same govt, which allowed massive scams in CWG to the extent
India became a laughing stock for the pathetic preparation for CWG
Games. The same govt which bribed MPs for its survival in its last
term. If CBI was functioning independently, why did it not arrest
Maran yet. If the CBI was functioning properly, it would have provided
dozens of evidence against Chidambaram. With CBI now being Congress
bureau of investigation, what is the guarantee this govt/ CBI will
not have destroyed any evidence against its own MPs / ministers. Court
could have given the benefit of doubt against Chidambaram for this
govt's corrupt records and for the dubious functioning of CBI.
Sad day for the Indian politics and perhaps even for Supreme Court's judicial integrity.
The judgment is unexpected so far as the common-man is concerned."
Be you ever so high the law is above you" is proved to be wrong in
this case.
Court is correct there is no material evidence to connect then Finance misnister to 2G spectrum scam.The real question is, if finace ministry performed its duty diligently , could Raja go forward with his plan to loot country? Also how these people thwarted the advice of PMO, and why finance ministry didn't take any action.In current "coalgate" scam, the line of argument is that even though government gave away coal blocks for private parties, country didn't loss the money since the private parties not yet consumed the coal, so government is not yet guilty.What type of world we are living in? I think all the fools in the world got a representative in New Delhi power corridors.
Judiciary is not effective in the case of powerful people! Mamatha is correct!
Do not understand the logic on which the honourable court says no case can be made out.
If four people form a Finance company and three of them decide to run away with the amassed wealth and cheat the public, will the courts say that the fourth person did not make any pecuniary gain out of this loot and hence is not guilty.
If a chairman of a PSU through his dealings made an organisation bankrupt can no case be made against him if he did not get any material benefit.
Did any one expect a different verdict?
Excellent verdict by the SC, it is a slap on the face of Mr.Swamy and
Bhusan who were hell bent to bring this country down.
Even for The Hindu in particular Ms.Shalini Singh to make sure that no
stories be written without proper evidence and not to conspire and
play into readers mind.
...are not interested in the well-being of the common man, it falls to
the courts to do whatever they can do to ensure that the elected
representatives have a lot of "incentive" NOT to cheat and dupe the
nation.
When the debate for increasing MPs' salaries was ongoing in the Lower
House, Lalu Prasad asked for a salary of (if I remember correctly)
80,000+1 p.m. the extra one was an offset to the salary of the Cabinet
Secretary, the most powerful civil servant of India. Now why would he
do that if the Executive were truly independent?
We are different from Pakistan where democracy and the writ of the
elected govt is itself a matter of doubt. Therefore I feel that the
judges should be much more aggressive when it comes to passing
judgement in cases like the present one.
I think this is the Indian judges' "our powers that can undo popular
representatives' works must be used sparingly" adage haunting the
judgement and affecting justice and the rule of law.
Even though our political and legal system is based on the UK system,
the actual topography of the three pillars of govt in India resembles
more the American system. There during the Obamacare debate recently,
am appeals court judge asked the govt legal representative to file a
three page report on what President meant when he tried to warn the
judges deciding the case of "overreach" in a TV interview.
Our judges have seen how their orders are repeatedly flouted or
ignored. But still they seem to curl up in a ball whenever they get
near shouting distance of any apparent "overreach".
The framers of the Constitution left it to the good will and
intentions of the elected representatives to lead us Indians towards
peace and prosperity. When it is abundantly clear that the elected
representatives...
Suramanian swamy and the like must be sidelined,for the development of this country,people with such negative thinking,cannot contribute to the development of India,the electronic and the print media must keep this person away from misleading the public,I may even suggest that He be sidelined by the media in general.
India is lapsing into an anarchical situation; it has become a land where the very idea of justice is very difficult to be realised by the common citizens. There is no proper mechanism in this country to punish the perpetrators of exploitation and atrocities of anti-democratic elements, dynastic families and corrupted-political mafia. Most of important institutes in our country seem to be in cahoots with EXPLOITERS, and POLITICO-FINANCIAL FRAUDS. LAW may fail to punish the culprits due to lack of concrete evidence; the people will deliver JUSTICE in correct time.
It was clear from the beginning that PC was the target of a motivated smear campaign. The SC judgement will give him a great relief.
As per the news report ..'The judges said that the poor management in allocation of spectrum cannot be said to be a product of criminal conspiracy..'! But, this passing comment itself suggest how the judges feel on the misdeeds of the government. Such poor managers are harmful in the development of Nation, Isn't it? If there is any morality in them or if they accept the views of Judiciary such poor persons should stepdown and make for more cometent people in the best interest of the Nation.
Cangress made a deal with SC Judges like plum posting after retirement.
As per this case,if you are acting wilfully as inefficient and causing billions of dollars loss to the exchequer than also u r not criminal. UPA will ensure that all constitutional heads are purchased.This government should be taught a lesson
I am interested to know who created such a poor management? Certainly in
2G case govt has sold license to benefit the country, then who has made
profit from such a low valued sale?
Congress has faith in the judiciary and the law of the land has taken
its own course as usual!
A sad day for Dr.Subramanian Swamy.
The verdict from the country's apex court has come at the most appropriate time when the enemies of the nation have started destabilising the country by spreading falsehood,hatred and vindatta against migrants from north east-our own brotheren.British followed the law of divide and rule.Opposition representatives are elected not only to oppose the ruling party but associate with it in nations building.Ruling and opposition may rise above partisan politics to develop an India of stability,freedom,mutual respect and accountability.
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