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In a relief to Bharti Cellular Ltd chief executive officer-cum-managing editor Sunil Bharti Mittal and Essar Group promoter Ravi Ruia, the Supreme Court on Friday set aside the order of the special court summoning them as accused in a corruption case related to allocation of additional spectrum during National Democratic Alliance rule in 2002.
"The legal principle has been wrongly applied.
“We set aside the order of the special court," a bench comprising Chief Justice H L Dattu and justices Madan B Lokur and A K Sikri said.
The bench said, "We are giving liberty to the special judge that if at any stage any material is found, he has every right to summon them (as accused)."
The apex court had on December 4 last year, reserved the verdict after hearing counsel for corporate honchos and the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Earlier during the arguments, senior advocate F S Nariman, appearing for Mittal, had told the apex court that the trial court erred in summoning his client despite the fact that the CMD was not named as accused in the charge sheet by the CBI.
Nariman had told the bench that there was ‘nothing unusual’ in the alleged assertion that Mittal had meetings with then Telecom Minister Pramod Mahajan and then Telecom Secretary Shyamal Ghosh.
Earlier, CBI, which had not charged Mittal and Ruia, had defended the decision of a Special CBI judge to summon them as accused.
The apex court was hearing petitions seeking setting aside of the order of a Special CBI Judge by which Ruia and Mittal, whose name did not figure in CBI's charge sheet as accused, were summoned on March 19, 2013.
The lower court had said that there was ‘enough material’ to proceed against them in the case.
Earlier, Essar Group promoter Ravi Ruia had said that he was not connected with the day-to-day affairs of the accused company Sterling Cellular Ltd and he was wrongly summoned in the case.
Besides Mittal and Ruia, the lower court had summoned Asim Ghosh, the then managing director of accused firm Hutchison Max Telecom Pvt Ltd.
Ghosh was also not named as accused in the charge sheet.
The trial court had said that Mittal, Ghosh and Ruia used to chair board meetings and ‘were/are prima facie in control of affairs of the respective companies’ and ‘they are/were 'alter-ego' of their respective companies’.
CBI had filed the charge sheet against former Telecom Secretary Shyamal Ghosh and three telecom firms Bharti Cellular Ltd, Hutchison Max Telecom Pvt Ltd (now known as Vodafone India Ltd) and Sterling Cellular Ltd (now known as Vodafone Mobile Service Ltd).
The lower court, while taking cognisance of the charge sheet, had issued summons to Mittal, Ruia and Asim Ghosh, saying they were ‘prima facie’ in ‘control of affairs’ of their companies named in the charge sheet by CBI in the case.
CBI had booked Shyamal Ghosh and the three telecom firms for the offences of criminal conspiracy (120-B) under IPC and under Prevention of Corruption Act.
The probe agency said the three accused telecom companies were allocated additional spectrum resulting in an alleged loss of Rs 846 crore (Rs 8.46 billion) to the exchequer.
Regarding Ghosh, CBI had said that in the alleged conspiracy with the then Telecom Minister Mahajan and the accused telecom firms, he had allegedly abused his official position to show undue favour to the firms causing a loss of Rs 846.44 crore (Rs 8.46 billion) to the exchequer.
Image: Ravi Ruia (Top); Sunil Mittal (Bottom)