Supreme Court verdict on monitoring of 2G probe today

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday will give its verdict on the issue of monitoring of the investigation into the 2G scam case.

A bench comprising Justice GS Singhvi and Justice AK Ganguly will decide the modalities of the probe into the multi-crore 2G spectrum allocation scam, which is being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

It will give its verdict on a petition filed by Centre for PIL, a non-government organisation. The petition has sought monitoring of the case by the apex court.

The Supreme Court, while reserving its order on December 6, had sought to widen the ambit of the CBI probe into the 2G scam to cover the period of NDA government, by suggesting that the controversial first-come-first-served policy introduced in 2001 be also looked into.

The bench had observed “the issue raised in the case is not limited to only Rs 1.76 lakh crore, but has a much wider compass. We would not like to prejudice the probe. But what happened in 2001 needs to be looked into. It is for CBI to investigate and find out”.

The judges’ remarks assume importance as A Raja has maintained that he was following the 2001 policy. The court had also taken the opportunity to express surprise over the public sector banks providing loans to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore to the 2G spectrum licencees on the basis of hypothecation of licences.

CBI and ED had submitted in a sealed cover the reports on the status of the probe. The agencies had assured the court that the investigations into the scam will be completed by March 2011.