The Supreme Court Thursday asked why no action was taken on a letter from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to his then telecom minister A. Raja on award of airwaves and felt that the severity of the case in question otherwise could have been different.
Two corporate executives accused in the second generation (2G) spectrum case, Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice H.L. Dattu also observed that the gravity of the alleged crime could have been different if action had been taken on the letter.
The letter written Nov 3, 2007 had raised several questions on the manner in which Raja was proposing to allocate the precious airwaves to telecom players and had also conveyed the industry's apprehensions in this regard. The letter favoured auction of airwaves.
But a reply the next day from Raja, now in judicial custody as the prime accused in the case, clearly said he will not change the policy of first-come-first-served to allocate the scarce resource but assured full transparency in the process.
Both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) said the apex court's observations were serious and demanded a full explanation on the matter from the government.
Appearing for the prosecution, Additional Solicitor General Haren Rawal sought to draw a line of distinction between the action of Raja and the suggested inaction on the content of the letter written by the prime minister, which had favoured transparent auction.
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