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Court summons top Reliance officials in OSA case

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

A Delhi court on Friday took cognizance of the Central Bureau of Investigation complaint against Reliance Industries and three of its top officials, including group President V Balasubramaniam, under the Official Secrets Act and issued summons to them for April 29.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sangita Dhingra Sehgal summoned Balasubramaniam, group Vice-President A N Sethuraman and Corporate Affairs General Manager Shekhar Adawal to appear before the court on April 29, CBI sources said.

The court's direction came after a marathon in-camera hearing which virtually ran the whole day. The court took cognizance of the complaint filed by the CBI after the agency counsel clarified that the case was not time-barred.

Meanwhile, when contacted, a Reliance spokesperson declined to comment on the development.

The CBI had started probe into the matter after Delhi police recovered four sensitive documents pertaining to internal decisions of the Cabinet from a Reliance office in October 1998 while investigating the Romesh Sharma case, they said.

The CBI claimed the secret documents were recovered from a 'locked office table drawer' of the group's office located at a five-star hotel in New Delhi, which could help the industrial group in its business.

"The initial searches were conducted by the Delhi police at the Reliance offices in Hotel Le Meridien in New Delhi on October 28, 1998 during which certain important documents were seized. On the basis of those documents a case under the Official Secrets Act was registered against the three accused. The case was then handed over to the CBI which conducted raids on November 13, 1998 at six places in Delhi and Mumbai, searched the offices and residential premises of the accused and recovered some more documents," CBI spokesman S M Khan had said on April 2.

The agency alleged that the said documents were 'crucial to the company's business interest' and they were 'used' by them, the sources said.

The CBI has charged Reliance and its officials under Sections 5(4) and 5(2) of Official Secrets Act and section 120-B (Criminal Conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly possessing secret Cabinet papers, they said.

The case had led to questions being asked on whether Reliance can now bid for the government's stake in any of the public sector units that are up for divestment. The guidelines for disqualifying a company from bidding for buying government stake in a PSU require that "for disqualification on the ground of non-security related offences, there must in fact be, inter alia, a conviction by a country of law."

However, the divestment ministry had said on April 3 that Reliance would not be disqualified from bidding for public sector undertakings, including Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd, on the basis of the CBI charges.

"We have examined the matter. Reliance would not be disqualified as the charges against it do not relate to national security. As per guidelines for divestment, in the case of non-security related matters, a charge-sheet is not enough to disqualify the bidder," Divestment Minister Arun Shourie had told reporters in New Delhi.

"If the charges relate to security, then a charge-sheet is enough, but in non-security related matters, conviction by court is necessary for disqualification," he said.

The minister said Reliance has been charged under the Official Secrets Act for possessing documents pertaining to classification of excise duty rates, India's response to economic sanctions and government's view on monopoly clause in divestment.

Reliance officials are charged under Sections 5(2) and 5(4) for possession of secret official documents and not under Section 5(3) pertaining to espionage and passing on of national secrets to the enemy, Shourie said.

Shourie's statement had cleared the mist around Reliance's bid for acquiring 26 per cent government stake in IPCL in which state-run refiner Indian Oil is also in race.

However, the court's summons on Friday has given a new twist to the case.

Earlier on Friday, reports said that Attorney General Soli Sorabjee is understood to have told the government that Reliance could not be disqualified from bidding for public sector units as a CBI complaint was different from a CBI charge-sheet.

The divestment ministry has said in an internal note, prepared after consultation with the attorney general, that "to the extent that the complaint relates to offences that are not related to the security and integrity of the country, the complaint itself would not have the effect of disqualifying a company."

The secretary's note on the issue of Central Bureau of Investigation filing complaint against Reliance and three of its officials under the Official Secrets Act, said: "The attorney general also drew my attention to a distinction that has been obscured in our guidelines. He pointed out that a 'complaint' - whether by an individual or by an organ of the government, is strictly speaking, different from a charge-sheet."

Unlike a complaint, a charge-sheet is one that has been framed by a court of law and judicial mind has been exercised.

"This is an ambiguity which we will have to deal with at some stage," sources quoting the note said.

Additional inputs: PTI, UNI

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