JOIN USApex court abuzz with activity on D-Day
The Supreme Court on Thursday was agog with activity since morning as it was to pronounce the verdict on the pleas to probe the role of Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and to cancel 122 licences allocated to 11 telecom companies in January 2008.
The presence of a huge media contingent in the Supreme Court lawn created a buzz about the pronouncement of the verdict. It seemed everyone was rushing to Court No 6 presided over by Justices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhaya. The 2G case was heard by the Special Bench comprising Justices Singhvi and A K Ganguly.
Justice Ganguly joined the Bench of Chief Justice S H Kapadia and Justice D K Jain for 10 minutes as part of the custom and practice since it was his last day in the apex court.
Even before the scheduled sitting of the court at 10:30 am, Court No 6 was choc-a-bloc with lawyers, media persons and corporate executives, including public relations, occupying every little space that was available.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan and Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy, who had argued in favour of cancellation of 122 licences, were seated in the front row. Additional Solicitor General Harin P Rawal was also sitting in the first row.
As the clock struck 10:30 am, the court assembled and Justice Singhvi started reading out a portion of the verdict.
The courtroom was filled with murmurs as the news of cancellation of 122 licences was made. Some loud noises exclaiming “licences cancelled” were also heard outside the courtroom. The court’s order brightened up the faces of the petitioners, including Swamy.
The government’s side, represented by a battery of lawyers however, looked downcast. The corporate executives also seemed crestfallen. One of the lawyers from the government’s side could not hold himself as he remarked — “if the court wanted to cancel the licences, it should have done it quite earlier.”