The Ruling of the Supreme Court of India on Presidential Reference regarding th auctioning of Natural Resources by the Government is blurred and is open for interpretations.
”This is the reason why the Government seems to have been relieved on the ruling.The bench of Chief Justice SH Kapadia and Justices DK Jain, JS Khehar, Dipak Misra and Ranjan Gogoi unanimously replied that the 2G judgment, which cancelled 122 spectrum licences and ordered their auction, was never meant to be an “auction only” prescription for allocation of natural resources other than spectrum. ….
“The recommendation of auction for alienation of natural resources was never intended to be taken as an absolute or blanket statement applicable across all natural resources, but simply a conclusion made at first blush over the attractiveness of a method like auction in disposal of natural resources,” the bench said.’
The Court could have simply dismissed the petition as frivolous instead of making such a non -committal observation.
Who is how to decides on ‘The Common Good?’
This is subjective and any one can decide as to what is Common Good’ and by-pass the judgement in any way they want.
Anticipation/Projection of the amount that might be realised by Auctioning is , again subjective and notional,
The Government may argue that by allotting to some one it might realise money.
In what can at best be described as funny logic The Supreme Court refused to entertain the plea of Dr.Dr.Subramanian Swamy to include the present and the then Finance Minister P.Chidambaram in the 2G Spectrum case where the Government has been defrauded to the tune of Rs.1,86,000 Crore.
“1) The top court has found the petitions not maintainable and dismissed the requests of petitioners Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy and lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan that Mr Chidambaram be investigated for his alleged role in the telecom scam. Mr Chidambaram was Finance Minister in 2008, when then Telecom Minister A Raja allegedly gifted mobile network licenses and frequency to ineligible companies.
2) Mr Swamy’s petition said that Mr Chidambaram must be made a co-accused in the 2G scam case. His contention was that the minister must be held responsible for allowing the telecom scam on his watch as Finance Minister.
3) Mr Swamy said that Mr Chidambaram was aware of Mr Raja’s actions. On matters like the pricing of spectrum, he should have intervened to protect the country’s interests, Mr Swamy has argued.
4) A special CBI court had rejected Mr Swamy’s request in February this year and he had appealed to the Supreme Court against that verdict.
5) The other petition had been filed by leading lawyer and anti-corruption activist Prashant Bhushan on behalf of the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, a non-governmental organisation. It sought a CBI investigation into Mr Chidambaram’s alleged role in the 2G scam.
6) Mr Bhushan’s petition alleged that Mr Chidambaram as Finance Minister overruled his officers who favoured the auction of spectrum. Mr Bhushan also said that Mr Chidambaram allowed two companies that were allegedly shown undue favour by Mr Raja, to sell stake to foreign investors at massive profits on the basis of licences that they had got at hefty bargains. The companies – Swan and Unitech Wireless – have said no rules were violated because they did not sell their stake but created additional equity. Swan partnered with UAE-based Etisalat and Unitech with Norwegian company Telenor. The government has said that both companies operated within the parameters of the law in those partnerships.
7) Early this year, the Supreme Court cancelled 122 licences issued by Mr Raja and said that spectrum should have been auctioned instead of being given at no extra cost along with licences. 2G or second generation spectrum will now be auctioned this year on the court’s orders. A Raja spent about a year in jail before being granted bail. ”
The Supreme Court seems to have stated in its Judgement(as reported by Times Now TV to-day), is that the mere fact that there might be some evidence here and there, it is not sufficient, to implicate Chidambaram in the 2G case.
It may be a fact that Chidambaram might have met the DoT officials.
It does not amount to Criminal Conspiracy.
The repeated use of the term,’Criminal Conspiracy’- does it mean that there is conspiracy, though not Conspiratorial in nature?Yes, when a meeting involves a scam, the Finance Minister discussed among other things the 2 G in the passing, thereby Chidambaram , the astute Lawyer that he is has provided himself with an excellent alibi.
I wrote on July 12, 2011 that
”
The Finance ministry was aware that there was something amiss in granting of licenses of 2G.
This is proved by the fact that the MoF had written to telecom ministry.
This was not followed up.
When suitable reply has not been received from the Ministry,Chidambaram should have taken it up with the GoM or the PM.
Now we find that there are ‘Non paper Decisions’(new term for unlawful decisions), and that there were no records kept for the meeting of Raja and Chidambaram.
All tis point out to acquiescence if not active participation of Chidambaram.
As I have noted in my earlier blog,is this a quid pro quo for manipulation of last Parliament elections, about which a case is pending.
2G scam runs deep.
It appears to lead towards PMO as well as Sonia Gandhi.
Despite clear indications the media is shy of mentioning either name .
Worse still PM is considered Honest and even called as ‘hands on PM’!
The Honorable judges must be aware of these facts and there were leaks in the Media on the ‘Paperless Discussions’ among Raja,Chidambaram.9 the leaks were from the PMO )
Probably they discussed what they would have for Lunch.
Now the Government has shredded the entire Tapes of Radia.
It is much easier for the Supreme Court to declare there is no evidence of 2 G linking to politicians and the Corporates.
Raja will be laughing heartily, as this opens new doors for him.
Viva la Justice!
“the trail of those who leaked the Niira Radia tapes could have been lost forever had not the Supreme Court decided to keep a copy with itself. The Centre on Thursday informed the Supreme Court that it has destroyed the entire Radia tapes, publication of excerpts from which threw the spotlight on ways of doing business as well as the tendency of security agencies to violate privacy of citizens.
The government said under Rule 419(A) of Indian Telegraph Rules, the intercepting agency was mandated to maintain and safely keep the intercepts for six months and thereafter destroy them if no action was required to be taken on the basis of the contents of the intercepts. The Radia intercepts were destroyed as no action was required to be taken on the tapes.
In reply to a comment by goks to my blog on CAG Repor “Please wait.
The Government will come with a story on excessive availability of Coal and hence there were no demand.
So they wanted to create demand!t on Coalgate I replied ‘
Now Congress is trying to come out with a statement
“The Supreme Court, while cancelling the 2G licences, did not make any observation with regard to the presumptive loss. If the apex court would have been convinced of averments of CAG, they would have endorsed the presumptive loss”, he said.
“CAG will be well served by keeping this precedent in mind and not keep adding zeros, which unnecessarily sensationalize and vitiates the environment”, he said.”
I saw in a TV report(was it TimesNow?) that the power price might have gone up if the tender process was followed!
In the spirit of helping Congress, I would like to reply on their behalf.
The CAG Report should have been approved by the Supreme Court before being tabled in the Parliament,
By not doing so , the CAG is undermining the Legislature and the People of India.
Coal until it is sold and Cash is realized is a worthless stone,
How come the CAG put a value on the Loss?
If the Coal Blocks were tendered and allocated as suggested by the CAG, Power prices would have gone up.
Being the critical factor in Economy,the increase in Power Price would have triggered Inflation further and would have led to further poor rating by International Credit Rating Agencies.
It was anticipated that the Monsoon would fail in 2012 and tendering would have taken a lot of time.
Being short of Water,Power Generation would have been affected in Thermal Stations.
The companies who received the allocation have the necessary Infrastructure which the Government lacks.
If one were to go by History and Anthropology, it is clear Coal was not made available by tendering Process.
The Prime Minister was aware of the developments and had instructed the Ministry of Power and Ministry of Establishments to ensure that there is transparency in Public Life.
The Law Ministry sent a Circular to all the Class IV Employees that the Coal Block allocation is to be conducted.
English: Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee attends a news conference in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata September 7, 2008. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
There is a lot of wind over West BengalChief Minister Mamata Bannerjee’s observation that Court Judgements can be bought in India.
Mamata Bannerjee may not be correct in all her policies or her impulsive actions or at times adolescent behaviour.
That does not mean whatever she says is incorrect, as in this case.
Is it not a fact way back around late eighties Justice Veeraswamy of The Supreme Court was indicted for corruption and was forced to resign?
Is it not a fact a Judge of the CBI Court in Andhra Pradesh was caught red handed accepting a Four Crore bribe for granting bail in the Obalapuram Mining Case for Janardhan Reddy and that the High Court has dismissed the bail application of the judge?
*The High Court dismissed the bail application on 17th August.The Blog was posted on 16th.The particular portion on Bail Dismissal was incorporated on the 17th.
Was it not a Calcutta High Court Judge(or Supreme Court?) who escaped impeachment for misappropriating PF money?
Was not a warrant of arrest issued against the then President of India, APJ. Abdul Kalam by a Magistrate for a consideration with out even knowing who the accused was?
Litigants always hire a Lawyer who is close to the Judge trying the case.
Is it not a fact that the immediate past Supreme Court Judge observed that the majority of the Judiciary is corrupt?
New Delhi: A petition was on Thursday filed in the Supreme Court seeking contempt action against the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her remarks that judgements are delivered for money.
The petition filed by J&K Panthers’ Party founder and senior advocate Bhim Singh alleged that Mamata’s comments has the inevitable effect of “undermining” the confidence of the public in the Indian judiciary as “it tends to lower the integrity, reputation and authority” of the judicial system.
Singh, in the petition filed through counsel D K Garg, has urged the court to direct the Union Government to produce the entire record relating to the speech and utterances of Mamata said to have been made by her on August 14 a the platinum jubilee celebrations of the State Legislature.
Quoting Article 129 of the Constitution, the petition said the Chief Minister’s comments “amounts to scandalising and have lowered the authority of the judiciary as a whole.”
He said Mamata being a popular Chief Minister the people tend to take her words seriously.
The petition cited a number of apex court rulings to say that under Article 129 the Supreme Court has the power to punish for contempt of itself and under Article 143(2) it can investigate any such contempt.
PTI
The Lawyer’s behaviour in boycotting courts and executive orders concerning the Lawyers and the Court are on the increase.
In Tamil Nadu,Lawyers gave grouped themselves into two,one belonging to The DMK and the another to The AIADMK..
Whenever anything happens, the group belonging to the opposition takes out processions, boycott the Courts and often indulge in violence, including in the Courts.
The violence in the Court premises between the Lawyers and The Police in Tamil Nadu is still vivid in memory.
This has to be stopped.
It would not be a bad idea to ban the lawyers to have political affiliations as well,on the lines of the conduct for the Judges ,as some of thee Lawyers may become judges..
Story:
KOCHI: Fiat Justicia, an NGO working in the legal field, has approached the Kerala high court seeking a ban on strikes by lawyers. The strike by lawyers on July 11 and 12 led to gross miscarriage and delay of justice and is against the specific directions of the Supreme Court in the matter, the petition filed through advocate M R Hariraj said.
Lawyers in Kerala had stayed off courts on July 11 and 12 as a mark of protest against the High Education and Research Bill and alleging encroachment upon the functions of the Bar Council of India as well as the State Bar Councils by the ministry of human resources development. The decision to support the strike was adopted by the Bar Council of Kerala in a meeting of the state council and all bar associations on July 1.
According to the petition, the court must restrain lawyers from resorting to strike and impose penalty on those engaging in it. It is also alleged that the Centre, state and high court didn’t take any action to avert the strike. It resulted in adjournment of over 90% of cases and is a violation of the directions of the Supreme Court in various judgments, the NGO contends. The NGO also points out that a representation was made to the chief justice of India demanding initiation of suo motu proceedings against those who conducted the strike
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