Supreme Court cancelled all 2G licences today issued by Raja

In a historic verdict, the Supreme Court on Today cancelled all 122 2G telecom licences granted during the tenure of former telecom minister A Raja in 2008.

An apex court bench comprising of Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly held that 122 licences for 2G spectrum were granted in ‘arbitrary and unconstitutional manner’.

However, affected companies have been given four months to enter into talks with government based on current market rates.

The court directed TRAI to make fresh recommendation on grant of 2G licences, while making it clear that the allocation of spectrum will be done through auction.

Companies which stand to lose their licences include Videocon, Swan, Idea, Tata and Loop.

The bench had earlier issued notices to 11 private telecom companies, which were granted licences despite allegedly being ineligible to secure them or had failed to launch services within stipulated time-frame.

The private telecom companies which were issued notices included Etisalat, Uninor, Loop Telecom, Videocon, S-Tel, Allianz Infra, Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices, Sistema Shyam Teleservices, Dishnet Wireless, Vodafone-Essar along with TRAI.

2G case trial to resume today

After a week's break, the trial in the 2G spectrum allocation scam case, involving former Telecom Minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and corporate honchos as accused, will resume on today in a Delhi court.

The day-to-day trial in the special court had to be adjourned for a week due to winter break and would continue from tomorrow with Raja questioning his former aide Aseervatham Achary, a key witness in the case.

Achary, who is testifying as seventh prosecution witness, has so far stood by his earlier statements made to the CBI indicting Raja and others.

During his cross-examination, Achary, a former Additional Private Secretary of Raja, had created a flutter in the court on December 22 by saying that he was facing threat to his life.

He had told Special Judge O P Saini that a man present in the courtroom was threatening him. The person, identified as Jai Prakash who was working as a peon with Reliance Power in Noida, was detained by the police but released later on after a day-long interrogation.

Raja, however, had told the court that it was a "drama" by Achary and it was "planned" in "collusion" with the CBI to "adversely impact" co-accused R K Chandolia's bail plea, which is slated for hearing in the Supreme Court this month.