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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2G spectrum case | 8/9 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2G_spectrum_case | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T14:10:45.635270+00:00 | kb-cron |
The controversy surrounding Aircel and Malaysia's Maxis Communications began in 2011 when Aircel founder C. Sivasankaran filed a complaint with the Central Bureau of Investigation and accused then-telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran of forcing him to sell Aircel to Maxis and delaying necessary 2G telecom licences in 2006 until the sale was completed. Investigations by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate later led to charges of corruption and money laundering against the Maran brothers and others. The case later expanded to include allegations that former finance minister P. Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram delayed foreign investment approval linked to the deal, and they were named as accused in a 2018 CBI supplementary chargesheet.
== Response to the allegations == When Indian media began citing the CAG report identifying the loss at ₹ 1.76 trillion (short scale), the Indian opposition parties unanimously demanded the formation of a joint parliamentary committee to investigate the allegations. Although the government rejected their demand, when the winter session of Parliament began on 9 November 2010 the opposition again pressed for a JPC; again, their demand was rejected. The demand for a JPC gained further momentum when the CAG report was tabled in Parliament on 16 November 2010. The opposition blocked the proceedings, again pressing for a JPC; the government again rejected their demand, creating an impasse. Speaker of the Lok Sabha Meira Kumar unsuccessfully attempted to resolve the impasse. The winter session of Parliament concluded on 13 December 2010. Although 22 new bills were planned to be introduced, 23 pending bills passed and three bills withdrawn, Parliament functioned for only nine hours. On 22 February 2011, after resisting opposition demands for over three months, the government announced that it would form a JPC. The JPC criticised the CBI for its leniency to the PM, the Attorney General, Dayanidhi Maran and Chidambaram and its reluctance to investigate their roles on 24 July 2012. After questioning former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanithi and the head of Maxis Communications, the CBI alleged that the Maran brothers accrued an illegal ₹ 5.50 billion by the sale of Sun Direct TV shares at highly "inflated prices". In early November 2010 Jayalalithaa accused state chief minister M Karunanidhi of protecting Raja from corruption charges, calling for Raja's resignation. By mid-November, Raja resigned. At that time, comptroller Vinod Rai issued show-cause notices to Unitech, S Tel, Loop Mobile, Datacom (Videocon) and Etisalat to respond to his assertion that the 85 licenses granted to these companies did not have the capital required at application or were otherwise illegal. It was speculated that because these companies provide some consumer service, they would receive large fines but retain their licenses. In June 2011 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh criticised the CAG for commenting on policy issues, warning it "to limit the office to the role defined in the constitution." After Singh's criticism the CAG conducted a "rigorous internal appraisal" and stood by its findings, citing additional events as corroboration. The CAG reiterated that there was "an undeniable loss to the exchequer", the calculation of which was based on three estimates: the 3G auctions and the Swan and Unitech transactions. It cited the Supreme Court ruling of 2 February 2012 that the actions of Raja and officers at the Department of Telecom were "wholly arbitrary, capricious and contrary to the public interest, apart from being violative of the doctrine of equality. The material produced for the quote showed that the Minister for C&IT wanted to favour some companies at the cost of the public exchequer." It said its estimate of loss of 1.76 trillion was justified, since the May 2012 TRAI collation of reserve prices for 2G spectrum was about the same as that in the November 2010 CAG report. TRAI had recommended a reserve price for 2G spectrum of ₹ 180 billion for a pan-India 5 MHz licence, higher than the 3G value of ₹ 167.50 billion for 5 MHz used by the CAG for arriving at a loss figure of ₹ 1,760 billion. It concluded that it was only examining the "implementation of policy", and policy-making was the government's prerogative.
== Joint parliamentary committee == The JPC consisted of half United Progressive Alliance members and half opposition members. Twelve were from the Lok Sabha, and eight from the Rajya Sabha. Of the Lok Sabha MPs, eight were from the Congress Party and four from the BJP. The following JPC members investigated the 2G allegations:
== Trial Court Verdict == On 21 December 2017, a Special CBI Court acquitted all the persons accused in the case. Special Judge OP Saini stated in his judgement: "There is no evidence on the record produced before the Court indicating any criminality in the acts allegedly committed by the accused persons.” He added that “the chargesheet of the instant case is based mainly on misreading, selective reading, non-reading and out of context reading of the official record” and that "the chargesheet is based on some oral statements made by the witnesses during investigation, which the witnesses have not owned up in the witness box.”