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2G spectrum case: Delhi HC dismisses plea challenging Centre’s decision-making process regarding CBI appeal
Justice Brijesh Sethi said the process for filing an appeal was duly followed and the CBI did not need to give any additional sanction or permission
The Delhi high court on Monday dismissed a bunch of pleas by several accused in the 2G spectrum case, earlier acquitted by trial court. These pleas challenged the process behind the Centre’s approval to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file appeal against the acquittal of the various accused, including former Union minister A Raja and DMK leader Kanimozhi.
Justice Brijesh Sethi said the process for filing an appeal was duly followed and the CBI did not need to give any additional sanction or permission. He also said that the amendments made to the Prevention of Corruption Act (PC Act) would not apply to the crimes committed before the amendments.
“The purpose of the amendment is not to obliterate the earlier law,” said Justice Sethi while also releasing the 2G appeals to another bench as he is set to retire on November 30.
A detailed judgment in the appeals is yet to be uploaded on the website of the Delhi high court.
Earlier, the high court, in October, had started day-to-day hearing in the CBI’s “leave to appeal” against the acquittal of all the individuals and firms. Leave to appeal is a formal permission granted by a court to a party to challenge a decision in a higher court.
A special court had, on December 21, 2017, acquitted Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and others in the CBI and ED cases related to the 2G spectrum allocation scam.
Besides Raja and Kanimozhi, the special court had acquitted Raja’s erstwhile private secretary R K Chandolia; Unitech Ltd MD Sanjay Chandra and three top executives of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group -- Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara and Hari Nair, in the CBI case.
Also acquitted were Swan Telecom promoters, Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Ltd, Reliance Telecom Ltd, film producer Karim Morani and director of Kalaignar TV Sharad Kumar.
In March 2018, the ED and the CBI had approached the high court challenging the special court’s order acquitting all the accused.
