<p>The Corporate Affairs Ministry said on Saturday that it will not review its report on the Essar-Loop shareholding as the opinion was given “by the provision of law”, even as the Supreme Court has cancelled 122 2G licences granted during the tenure of former telecom minister A Raja.<br /><br /></p>.<p>“We gave the opinion on the provision of law. Where is the question of review. We receive reference from a ministry and we illustrate it. There is no question of interpretation, that is for the respective ministry to do,” Corporate Affairs Minister Veerappa Moily told reporters on the sidelines of a PHD chamber event here.<br /><br />He was replying to a question whether his ministry, which was pulled up by the CBI in court for its report on Essar-Loop cross-holding, would reconsider its stance. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs had informed the DoT that Essar’s cross-holding shares were at 2.15 per cent and not above 10 per cent as alleged by CBI.<br /><br />CBI in its third charge-sheet in the 2G spectrum case, had alleged that Loop Telecom Ltd was an Essar Group company “under a corporate veil” and even the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) “chose not to investigate” and allowed it “to rest”.<br /><br />The charge-sheet had said despite the report of a Deputy Director (inspection) of MCA that the Clause 8 of the Unified Access Services Licences (UASL) guidelines of 2005 was violated. The Ministry “instead of conveying such a definite opinion to the DoT chose to send a non-committal vague report”.<br /><br />Major development<br /><br />Earlier this month, in a major development having implications for the telecom sector, the Supreme Court cancelled 122 2G spectrum licences on the ground that they were issued in a “totally arbitrary and unconstitutional” manner. It also imposed a fine of Rs 5 crore each on three telecom companies, which offloaded their shares after getting the licenses, the court directed regulator TRAI to make fresh recommendations on allocation of 2G licences.<br /><br />3G auctions<br /><br />The 122 licences were given by Raja for over Rs 9,000 crore, while 3G auctions for a smaller number of licences had fetched the government a sum of Rs 69,000 crore.</p>
<p>The Corporate Affairs Ministry said on Saturday that it will not review its report on the Essar-Loop shareholding as the opinion was given “by the provision of law”, even as the Supreme Court has cancelled 122 2G licences granted during the tenure of former telecom minister A Raja.<br /><br /></p>.<p>“We gave the opinion on the provision of law. Where is the question of review. We receive reference from a ministry and we illustrate it. There is no question of interpretation, that is for the respective ministry to do,” Corporate Affairs Minister Veerappa Moily told reporters on the sidelines of a PHD chamber event here.<br /><br />He was replying to a question whether his ministry, which was pulled up by the CBI in court for its report on Essar-Loop cross-holding, would reconsider its stance. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs had informed the DoT that Essar’s cross-holding shares were at 2.15 per cent and not above 10 per cent as alleged by CBI.<br /><br />CBI in its third charge-sheet in the 2G spectrum case, had alleged that Loop Telecom Ltd was an Essar Group company “under a corporate veil” and even the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) “chose not to investigate” and allowed it “to rest”.<br /><br />The charge-sheet had said despite the report of a Deputy Director (inspection) of MCA that the Clause 8 of the Unified Access Services Licences (UASL) guidelines of 2005 was violated. The Ministry “instead of conveying such a definite opinion to the DoT chose to send a non-committal vague report”.<br /><br />Major development<br /><br />Earlier this month, in a major development having implications for the telecom sector, the Supreme Court cancelled 122 2G spectrum licences on the ground that they were issued in a “totally arbitrary and unconstitutional” manner. It also imposed a fine of Rs 5 crore each on three telecom companies, which offloaded their shares after getting the licenses, the court directed regulator TRAI to make fresh recommendations on allocation of 2G licences.<br /><br />3G auctions<br /><br />The 122 licences were given by Raja for over Rs 9,000 crore, while 3G auctions for a smaller number of licences had fetched the government a sum of Rs 69,000 crore.</p>