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A bench comprising Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly asked Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium to reply to the queries of the court on the report, submitted by petitioners Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), Telecom Watchdog and journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurtha, alleging the malpractice. The apex court fixed October 22 as the date for hearing the response of the government.
Appearing for the CPIL, advocate Prashant Bhushan said according to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report, the government lost about Rs 1,29,652 crore in the allotment done at a price fixed by the government in 2001.
“DoT overruled the specific objections of the prime minister, finance minister, law minister, finance secretary, telecom secretary & member (finance) of the Telecom Department and awarded scarce spectrum at very low rates to few favoured (mostly ineligible) companies,’’ said the short-note submitted by Bhushan on Friday.
Bhushan also said the petitioners had filed a petition seeking a thorough court-monitored investigation either by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) or by a special team of the CBI into the 2G spectrum allocation scam that has caused the national exchequer an estimated Rs 70,000 crore.