Supreme Court to monitor probe into 2G spectrum scam

The Supreme Court on Thursday announced that it will monitor the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) ”s inquiry into the 2G scam.

A bench comprising Jjustices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly said the probe will also cover the events of 2001, when the NDA Government was in the power.

The apex court has also asked the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to submit their status reports on the investigation in sealed envelopes by February 10, 2011.

The court had earlier heard the arguments forwarded by the CPIL, CBI, ED, Department of Telecommunication and former Telecom Minister A Raja, who had resigned from the Cabinet in the wake of the scam.

The bench had earlier observed “the issue raised in the case is not limited to only Rs 1.76 lakh crore but has a much wider compass.

The apex court also pointed out that the government was enacting a number of laws, it was not creating adequate courts as the result of which the existing courts are over burdened and there is no way special cases like the present one can be dealt in an expeditious manner.

The apex court, which is hearing various cases related to the 2G scam, had come down heavily on the CBI recently, asking why it had not questioned Raja even though the report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) faulted him for under-valuing the 2G spectrum.

The court had also asked why officials who would have been in the know, like the former Telecom Secretary, had not been questioned. It also asked Raja why he had overruled the Prime Minister on 2G spectrum.

Raja was forced to resign as Minister on last month in the wake of the CAG””s report that the rates at which 2G spectrum was allotted resulted in a possible loss to the exchequer to the tune of Rs 1.76 lakh crore.