Supreme Court to decide three 2G matters today

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Three issues related to the 2G case, including Home Minister P. Chidambaram's alleged role in the scam, are expected to be decided by the Supreme Court on Thursday - the last day in office of Justice A.K. Ganguly who, along with Justice G.S. Singhvi, has been hearing the cases for over one year.

The court will pronounce its verdict on Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy's plea seeking CBI probe into Chidambaram's role as the then finance minister in fixing prices for the allocation of 2G licenses, along with former communications minister A. Raja.

The judges are also likely to deliver judgment on a plea by the Center for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) seeking the cancellation of 122 licenses granted in 2008 to nine telecom companies during Raja's tenure at 2001 prices and in breach of the first-come-first-served policy.

The court will also pronounce its orders on the CPIL's plea seeking the setting up of an expert committee comprising retired judges and investigators to undertake day-to-day supervision of investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the case.

The apex court had reserved its order on the main plea and other related applications on Oct 10, 2011. Justice Singhvi will pronounce all the three judgments.

The CPIL's main petition sought the cancellation of 122 licenses granted to nine companies on the grounds that they were given the licenses illegally by advancing the cut-off date for acceptance of application from Oct1, 2007 to Sep 25, 2007. It said the grant of licenses at 2001 prices caused huge loss to the exchequer.

Seeking daily supervision of the CBI probe into the 2G scam,the CPIL contended that though the apex court was monitoring it there was a need for a supervisory committee to ensure that the investigating agency did not digress from its course of hauling up the actual beneficiaries of the scam.