Swamy moves SC for cancellation of 2G spectrum licences

Swamy moves SC for cancellation of 2G spectrum licences  

Janata Party Chief Subramanian Swamy Tuesday moved the Supreme Court seeking cancellation of the 2G spectrum licences alloted during the tenure of former Telecom Minister A Raja allegedly in violation of all norms and procedure causing huge loss to the state exchequer.

The PIL filed by Swamy sought a direction to the government for holding a fresh auction for eligible entities for all the 122 licences in 22 circles across the country.

He alleged the allotment of spectrum, which according to the CAG report has caused a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the state exchequer, has been sustained despite judgments of the Delhi High Court that struck down the policy of allocating radio waves at the 2001 price on first-come-first-served basis in 2007-08.

Swamy's petiton was second after an NGO, Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), filed an identical PIL on 14^th December 2010, seeking cancellation of the licences for 2G spectrum after the apex court decided to monitor the probe into the scam by CBI and Enforcement Directorate.

The Janata Party leader in his petition contended the Department of Telecom, then headed by Raja, had arbitrarily and with malafide intention to benefit certain entities advanced the cut-off date for making application for allocation of 2G spectrum from 1^st October to 25^th September 2007.