New Delhi:
Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy filed an appeal in the Supreme Court today against a Delhi Court's decision to dismiss his plea against Union Home Minister P Chidambaram in the 2G scam.
A special CBI court headed by Judge OP Saini had rejected Mr Swamy's petition on Feb 4 to make Mr Chidambaram a co-accused in the 2G case for allegedly allowing former Telecom Minister A Raja to gift mobile network licenses and scarce second-generation or 2G spectrum at staggeringly low prices to companies he allegedly favoured. In a one-line verdict, the judge said in a packed court-room, "Prayer of Swamy to make Chidambaram an accused is dismissed.
The trial court felt Mr Swamy was unable to prove criminality on the part of Mr Chidambaram. Mr Swamy maintains that he can prove this criminality only when Chidambaram is forced to undergo a cross-examination.
Mr Swamy, in his petition, said that it was Mr Chidambaram's job as Finance Minister in 2008 to prevent Mr Raja from his alleged spree of nefarious licensing. He says that Mr Chidambaram was privy to the decisions that Mr Raja took. On matters like the pricing of spectrum, he should have intervened to protect the country's interests, he argues.
Mr Chidambaram in his defence said that he tried at various points to insist that Mr Raja hold an auction to ensure that this scarce resource was sold at market prices.