Supreme Court issues notice to Raja in 2G spectrum scam

NEW DELHI - The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to Communications and IT Minister A. Raja in connection with the 2G spectrum scam.

The apex court also slammed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for filing a case against unnamed officials, and said that the investigating agency should have named them.

The petitioner wants the apex court to monitor the CBI probe or set up a Special Investigation Team.

Earlier on September 9, upping the ante against the Centre over the appointment of the former Telecom Secretary, P.J. Thomas, as the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), the Bharatiya Janata Party said it was done to “cover up” the huge financial scam in the allotment of 2G spectrum.

Terming the 2G spectrum allocation to private companies at “throwaway prices” a “maha-Bofors” scam, BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said Thomas’s appointment was done to derail the entire investigation into the scam.

Javadekar said that in its note prepared on August 12, 2010, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) - then headed by Thomas - raised a query before the Law Ministry saying that spectrum allocation was a matter of policy, and that the CAG and the CVC had no role to play in the inquiry into it.

“And now the same person [Thomas], who earlier objected to the CVC probing the scam, is heading the organisation…and now no one is expecting a fair inquiry into the entire matter,” Javadekar said.

He said both the DoT and the Law Ministry favoured the note prepared against the role of the CVC and the CAG, which proved that the government purposely appointed Thomas for the cover-up.

“The Congress-led UPA government has undermined institutions like the CAG and CVC on account of the compulsions of coalition politics, the UPA government is under pressure to derail the investigation,” alleged Javadekar.

Pointing out that A. Raja had time and again, in his defence, claimed that he was working under the guidance of the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, Javadekar said: “He has made the Prime Minister a co-accused in the scam. The formulation of policy at the behest of Raja was consciously and deliberately framed to cause loss to the government and gain to private parties. But still Dr. Singh has been defending the Minister.”

Last month, the Telecom Department headed by Thomas had sought the legal advisor’s opinion on whether the CAG had the authority to challenge policy decisions taken by the government.

The ministry’s legal advisor said neither the CVC nor the CAG had the authority to question the government’s policy decisions. (ANI)