JOIN USThe Supreme Court on Friday proposed to restrain M/s Aircel from using the spectrum licence granted to it in 2006 if its owner failed to appear before the court in proceedings launched in connection with the 2G spectrum scam case.
A three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice J S Khehar stayed any transfer of rights in Aircel, and directed the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology to devise ways to transfer the company’s licence of 2G spectrum to other operators.
The court took serious view of the repeated failure of T Ananda Krishnan (owner of Malaysian company Maxis) to appear before the special court holding trial in the case.
It said that if Krishnan and Ralph Marshall of Maxis failed to make appearance, the 2G licences granted to Aircel shall be seized.
“One can’t defeat the process of law... we won’t tolerate anyone avoiding the process of law. If money was earned as a matter of fraud, we can’t say today, but what we can say is you can stop using spectrum till you appear before the court,” the bench, also comprising Justices N V Ramana and D Y Chandrachud said.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation, submitted that Maxis and its owner have evaded summons issued by the special court and have not appeared before it.