The Supreme Court has asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to examine why S Tel?s 2G spectrum licence was restored, after its cancellation on grounds of posing a threat to national security, according to news reports.
The court also asked the agency to investigate the antecedents of UAE-based Etisalat, against which the Home Ministry had expressed reservations to the Department of Telecommunications and the Union Finance Ministry, regarding the foreign direct investment made by it in the telecom sector.
A bench of justices G.S. Singhvi and A.G. Ganguly asked the CBI to apprise it of their findings on March 15, 2011.
K.K. Venugopal appearing for the CBI, however, said as the issues concerning the two firms did not directly relate to the 2G spectrum allocation, the agency may take some more time to complete the probe.
Attorney General Goolam E. Vahanvati, meanwhile, informed the bench that since 1994, spectrum was allocated on the basis of the policy decision which did not envisage its allocation by auction. He further said the licences cannot be cancelled only on the ground that the policy of auction was not followed.
