Telecom Lead Asia: After Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal, the Essar group promoter Ravi Ruia has moved the Supreme Court challenging a trial court’s decision to summon him as an accused in the 2G spectrum case.
Mittal’s counsel had argued before the Supreme Court on Monday that the alleged action of a company in securing excess spectrum could not be fastened as a vicarious liability on those at the helm of affairs, PTI reported.
The Supreme Court has asked the CBI to explain why the agency did not name Mittal in the chargesheet but was defending the summons by the trial court. Like Mittal, Ruia’s name too did not find mention in the chargesheet.
Though he was the promoter of the Essar Group, the minority partner of the mobile operator’s joint venture which received additional 2G spectrum, Ruia feels that he was not even at the helm of affairs of Sterling Cellular and termed the trial court’s decision summoning him as pre-ponderous.
Ruia’s counsel said the sole basis for the trial court’s decision to summon his client was that he had chaired certain meetings of Sterling Cellular and held the view that decisions of the company could be attributed to him. The petitioner said he held no executive position in the company and that Essar group had only a minority shareholding in Sterling Cellular.
On Monday, the apex court had repeatedly questioned the timing of the trial court’s decision to use discretionary powers at this stage to summon Mittal, Ruia and others as accused in the case even before the evidence was examined and taken on record.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir had said that if the magistrate, after scrutiny of the evidence came to the conclusion that prima facie case was made out against the persons not named in the chargesheet, it would have been understandable. “But we are unable to understand the trial court’s decision to summon immediately after taking cognizance of the chargesheet,” the bench had said.
But the CBI defended the trial court’s decision saying the judge had appreciated that there was enough material to constitute a prima facie case against the persons summoned as accused despite they being not named in the chargesheet.
The CBI counsel had said the investigating officers had in their report to the CBI director and director prosecution opined for naming these persons in the charge sheet. But because of conflict of opinion between the two directors, the agency ended up naming only the companies as accused in the charge sheet.
On Monday, the Supreme Court bench presided over by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir said it would decide on the validity of the summons on April 15.
The bench asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to submit the chargesheet and other documents related to its inquiry against Bharti and Mittal. The Supreme Court also told the lower court not to deal with this issue till April 16. The CBI special court had asked Mittal to appear before it on April 11 to face criminal charges, in a case related to alleged irregularities in allocation of airwaves during the tenure of the NDA government.
The apex court directive means that Mittal will not have to present himself before the CBI special court on Thursday. Mittal’s counsel, Harish Salve, told the apex court that under existing laws, the actions of directors can be attributed to a company and not the other way around. The court cannot issue summons to Mittal as the chargesheet has not named him.
