In Stern Warning To Aircel, Supreme Court Says Spectrum Can Be Cancelled

New Delhi: Airwaves granted to telecom operator Aircel could be cancelled if two executives at Malaysian parent Maxis Bhd do not appear at a trial court, the Supreme Court warned on Friday. The court, led by Chief Justice JS Khehar, also barred Aircel from transferring the ownership of its airwaves while a corruption case centred on a past deal involving the mobile phone carrier was under trial, potentially delaying an agreed merger. The court has given the company two weeks to respond.

Malaysia-based businessman T Ananda Krishnan and his one-time key aide and Augustus Ralph Marshall were summoned by the CBI court in the Aircel-Maxis case but they have not appeared yet.

"We want the accused T Ananda Krishnan here if he wants to use the spectrum. If he is running away from law we can't tolerate," Chief Justice JS Khehar said.

The action comes as Aircel and the wireless network division of Reliance Communications Ltd work towards merging, with the resulting company shared equally between Reliance, controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani, and Maxis, controlled by Mr Ananda Krishnan.

Mr Ananda Krishnan and Mr Marshall are among a number of people charged two years ago in relation to Aircel's 2006 sale to Maxis, which prosecutors allege was aided by former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran. The CBI alleges that Mr Maran delayed granting licence to Aircel and pressured its then owner to sell the company to Maxis. In turn, Maxis allegedly invested Rs 700 crore in Sun Group, controlled by the Maran family, the CBI said. All of the accused have denied wrongdoing.

The court today asked the Department of Telecom to find ways to transfer the 2G spectrum to other service providers so that over six crore Aircel customers are not affected.