The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday defended Home Minister P Chidamabaram in the Supreme Court in the 2G scam by blaming the Department of Telecommunication for "jumping the gun" in spectrum allocation.
In a major setback to DMK Member of Parliament Kanimozhi and Kalaignar TV Managing Director Sharad Kumar, the Supreme Court on Monday dismissed their bail pleas in the 2G spectrum case.
SC also wanted to know why DoT ignored TRAI's recommendations on effective utilization of the spectrum.
The government on Thursday placed recorded tapes containing the conversations between corporate lobbyist Niira Radia and others related to the 2G spectrum allocation case before the Supreme Court in a sealed cover. While placing the recorded conversation before the bench comprising justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly, Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium said that it is a hard disc drive directly downloaded from the server which contains the conversations.
Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the government to respond to the plea for preserving the tapes containing conversation between corporate lobbyist Niira Radia and others relating to the 2G spectrum scam.
The Supreme Court asked the Haryana government to identify the persons and organisation responsible for holding demonstration in December 2010 against the booking of some upper caste people in connection with the Mirchpur Dalit killings case.
"We know that the print and electronic media play an important role in the society. They are to inform but distortions about the fact would not serve the purpose. However, what is going on is very unfortunate," Justice Singhvi heading the Bench observed.
Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan was named a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee into the 2G spectrum scam after her colleague Abhishek Singhvi recused himself taking the plea that he had appeared for cellular operators in the court as a senior advocate.
Congress on Saturday dismissed as 'drama' Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's attack on the Centre over Central Bureau of Investigation's plea for seeking transfer of the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case from Gujarat.
The Congress on Monday distanced itself from party member of Parliament Suresh Kalmadi's move seeking a Joint Parliamentaey Committee probe into the Commonwealth Games issue, saying it was his independent view and the party has nothing to do with it.
"If the Opposition gets into singing praises, then democracy will be destroyed," Sharma said.
The suspense over Home Minister P Chidambaram's alleged role in the 2G scam is likely to be over by Saturday when a Delhi court would decide the plea of Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy to make him an accused in the case.
However, the bench said Chidambaram is at a liberty to seek remedy in accordance with the law.
The Supreme Court sought the Centre's response on a plea for disclosure of the entire contents of corporate lobbyists Niira Radia's conversation with politicians, journalists and corporate tycoons, which were tapped by government authorities.
The Supreme Court on Friday severely criticised Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal for making statements undermining the Comptroller and Auditor General of India's report on the 2G spectrum scam and asked him to behave with some sense of responsibility.
The ED in its status report said investigation was in progress regarding the involvement of five foreign companies in the 2G scam which are registered in Virgin Island.
The Congress has termed as "outrageous" and "ridiculous" the allegations that the Rajiv Gandhi government had assured "safe passage" to Union Carbide Chief Warren Anderson before he came to India in the aftermath of the deadly 1984 Bhopal gas leakage that killed thousands.
Senior advocate Uday Lalit was on Monday appointed as special public prosecutor for the trial in 2G case involving former telecom minister A Raja and others by the Supreme Court ending uncertainty triggered by government by objecting to his name on technical grounds.
CBI said Swan Telecom and Loop Telecom were allegedly used as front companies by Reliance Group and Essar respectively.
The Supreme Court on Monday asked the government to place before it in sealed cover the copy of the complaint on which it started tapping corporate lobbyist Niira Radia's telephonic conversations with a host of people including politicians, corporate leaders and media personalities.
Chargesheets will be filed against former telecom minister A Raja and two companies by March 31 for their alleged involvement in the 2G spectrum allocation case, the Central Bureau of Investigation told the Supreme Court on Wednesday, which asked the agency to appoint a suitable senior advocate as special public prosecutor in the trial.
ED told the SC that multi-crore foreign transactions relating to the 2G spectrum scam have been traced to at least six countries.
The pleas were mentioned for urgent listing before the bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday virtually questioned the tenability of Chief Vigilance Commissioner P J Thomas supervising the Central Bureau of Investigation's probe into the 2G spectrum scandal as he himself was Telecom Seceratary at the relevant point of time.
'All judges are conscious of the historical legacy they leave behind. Chief Justice Thakur understands the important question of Constitutional law involved and the change in public mood,' lawyer Anand Grover tells Sunil Sethi.
2G Scam: SC ticks off CBI for not questioning Raja
The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to Piyush Guha, who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment along with civil rights activist Binayak Sen in a sedition case. The vacation bench of justices G S Singhvi and C K Prasad suspended the sentence of life imprisonment and directed Guha's release on bail.The bench also directed Guha to furnish a bail bond of Rs two lakh and two sureties of one lakh each. Guha, a Kolkata-based businessman, was convicted along with Sen.
Even non-Muslims can create Wakf property but it would be invalid if done with a sinful objective to subvert the law, the Supreme Court has ruled upholding the land acquisition of a popular educational institution in New Delhi.
The apex court, which passed interim directions, said all migrant workers who are stranded at various places shall be provided food by concerned states and Union Territories (UTs) at places which shall be publicised and notified to them for the period they are waiting for their turn to board a train or a bus.
Some of the letters exchanged between the arrested activists spoke of planning 'some big action' which would attract attention, Singh said.
The Supreme Court took strong exception to growing incidents of protestors and agitationists using "strong-arm tactics to browbeat governments" by blocking rail and road traffic.
The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed displeasure over the tardy pace of probe by the Income Tax department into the tax evasion cases linked to 2G spectrum case, saying it wanted "results".
I-T department defended its probe saying that the investigation has entered the "fifth layer" and the approach towards the case has not been tardy.
The Congress virtually snubbed Andhra Pradesh MP Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy for his decision to go ahead with his controversial yatra, saying party discipline must be observed. "All true committed and loyal Congressmen must necessarily observe both the party dharma and Laxman rekha of propriety and party discipline," party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said.
The five-judge Constitution bench said that it is the devotion which makes a woman to visit a temple.
A delegation of Indian lawmakers have asked United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to press Pakistan to bring Mumbai terror attack accused like Hafiz Saeed and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi to book and ensure that Islamabad does not divert US aid for anti-India activities.The delegation led by Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi met Clinton in Washington and also expressed concern over the proposed China-Pakistan nuclear deal.
Brushing aside Centre's objections, the Supreme Court on Friday said it would pass an order for the appointment of senior advocate U U Lalit as special public prosecutor for holding the trial of former telecom minister A Raja and others in the 2G spectrum case on a day-to-day basis without any adjournments.
The Supreme Court on Friday said it will hold final hearing on a day-to-day basis from April 19 on Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata's plea to bar online portals and electronic media from airing his phone conversation with corporate lobbyist Niira Radia tapped by the Income Tax Department.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday informed the Supreme Court that it is willing to take over the probe into the mysterious death of Sadiq Batcha, a close aide of 2G spectrum case accused and former telecom minister A Raja.
Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy, who is pursuing the 2G spectrum scam, on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to direct Central Bureau of Investigation to expand the ambit of its probe to cover the alleged link between terror outfit Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam and telecom company Aircel.
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