The Supreme Court of India has sent notices to 11 local telecom companies as well as to the Department of Telecom (DoT) and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) over the 2G scam, local reports wrote.
This move follows the Centre for Public…
The Supreme Court of India has sent notices to 11 local telecom companies as well as to the Department of Telecom (DoT) and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) over the 2G scam, local reports wrote.
This move follows the Centre for Public Interest Litigation filing a public interest of litigation (PIL) asking the court to direct the government to recover US$40bn in revenues, after licences were sold to mobile operators based on a price determined in 2001.
The CPIL also reportedly recommended cancelling several licences, arguing the telcos did not fulfil their rollout obligations.
The companies – including Uninor, Vodafone-Essar South, Tata Tele, Loop Telecom, Idea Cellular, Etisalat, SSTL, Videodon, S-Tel, Allianz Infra and Dishnet Wireless – as well as the DoT and Trai have been given until 1 February 2011 to respond, which is when the court will next hear the matter.
In separate but related news, telecom minister Kapil Sibal was quoted saying that a report from the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), claiming that the 2G scam caused a US$40bn loss to the government, was erroneous.
According to local reports, he criticised the government auditor’s calculation methods, saying the loss to the government was actually nil. However Sibal, who replaced former telecom minister A. Raja after he was suspected of wrongdoing in the case, reportedly admitted that there was something wrong in the allocation of spectrum in 2008.
Sibal’s claim is seen as an attempt by the government to fight back ongoing criticism from the opposition since the 2G scam was revealed a few months ago.
