Aircel-Maxis deal: SC no to Marans plea on summons

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court refused to entertain the plea of former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran and his brother Kalanithi Maran in the Aircel-Maxis case and said they can approach the Delhi High Court against the trial court order summoning them as accused.

A bench of Justices V Gopalagowda and R Banumathi said it was not inclined to interfere in the matter which has arisen out of the 2G spectrum allocation scam probe.

"You have to exhaust your remedy under Article 226 of the Constitution and then come here. We don't see any issue of fundamental jurisdiction here. If we say anything,every person will come here saying their fundamental right is violated.

"We cannot interfere as the chargesheet has already been filed. If there is no case against you (Marans), then you can ask for a discharge," the bench said after which Marans withdrew their petition.

During the hearing, senior advocate C A Sundaram, appearing for Dayanidhi Maran, said that this case is not related to 2G spectrum allocation scam probe and that not a single licence was allotted by him during his tenure as telecom minister.

On October 29 last year, a special 2G court had summoned Maran brothers and six others, including Malaysian business tycoon T Ananda Krishnan as accused in the Aircel-Maxis deal case.

The Special CBI court had directed them to appear before it on March 2, 2015 after taking cognisance of the charge sheet filed against eight accused including four companies: Sun Direct TV Pvt Ltd, Maxis Communication Berhad, Astro All Asia Network PLC and South Asia Entertainment Holding Ltd.

The CBI had said in court that Dayanidhi Maran had "pressured" and "forced" Chennai-based telecom promoter C Sivasankaran to sell his stakes in Aircel and two subsidiary firms to Malaysian firm Maxis Group in 2006.