CWG+2G+CBSE Project report

Legal Aspects Of Business
End Term Report

Submitted by

Section 19B, Group-5

Group Members
S. No. Name Roll No. S. No. Name Roll No.
1 Shelly Jain 191111 6 Khem Singh 191090
2 Rachit Jain 191105 7 Ankita Sehjpal 191076
3 Gaurav Gulecha 191085 8 Kulvir Singh Gill 191092
4 Tanya Malik 191119 9 Abhijeet Sharma 191062
5 Vivek Mandowara 191121 10 Pankaj Kakkar 191102

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Table of Contents
THE PREVENTION OF CORRUPTION ACT, 1988 ....................................................................................... 7
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 7
Genesis ................................................................................................................................................ 7
The Prevention Of Corruption Act, 1988 ............................................................................................ 7
Sec 2: Definations............................................................................................................................ 7
Who Is A Public Servant? ................................................................................................................ 8
Sec 3: Power to Appoint Special Judges.......................................................................................... 9
Sec 4: Cases Triable By Special Judges .......................................................................................... 10
Sec 5: Power & Function of Special Judges ................................................................................... 10
Sec 6: Power to Try Summarily ..................................................................................................... 11
Offences and Penalties (SECTION 7 – 16) ..................................................................................... 12
Investigation (SECTIONS 17 – 31).................................................................................................. 17
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 19
COMMON WEALTH GAMES SCAM ....................................................................................................... 20
CWG Background .............................................................................................................................. 21
CWG XIX New Delhi........................................................................................................................... 21
How Delhi Got It - Bidding............................................................................................................. 22
Organizing Committee .................................................................................................................. 22
Key Stakeholders ........................................................................................................................... 24
Objectives of OC............................................................................................................................ 24
Vision, Mission & Values ............................................................................................................... 25
Costs .................................................................................................................................................. 26
Timeline of CWG ............................................................................................................................... 26
CWG Scam Irregularity ...................................................................................................................... 32
Labor Law Violations ..................................................................................................................... 34
CAG Report........................................................................................................................................ 35
Legal Cases against CWG Committee ............................................................................................... 36
Parties Involved................................................................................................................................. 38
Politicians Involved ....................................................................................................................... 38
Bureaucrats Involved .................................................................................................................... 38
Corporations Involved ................................................................................................................... 38
Businessmen Involved................................................................................................................... 39
Whistleblowers/ Law Enforcers .................................................................................................... 39

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Scams ................................................................................................................................................ 39
Time Scoring Results System......................................................................................................... 39
Queens Baton Relay ...................................................................................................................... 39
Broadcast Network ....................................................................................................................... 40
Recruitment to Organising Committee ......................................................................................... 40
CNN-IBN NDTV Hindustan Times ...................................................................................................... 41
Response to Scam ............................................................................................................................. 41
CWG Impact ...................................................................................................................................... 42
Socio Economic Impact ................................................................................................................. 43
Organizational Failure ................................................................................................................... 45
Racism Allegation .......................................................................................................................... 47
Infrastructure Issue ....................................................................................................................... 48
Vandalism in games village by Athletes ........................................................................................ 49
Infrastructural compromise ............................................................................................... 50
Terror threats ...................................................................................................................... 51
Fear of dengue outbreak ........................................................................................................... 52
Illness ........................................................................................................................................... 52
Sporting Controversy ........................................................................................................................ 53
Doping ........................................................................................................................................... 53
Archery .......................................................................................................................................... 53
Boxing............................................................................................................................................ 54
Cycling ........................................................................................................................................... 54
Swimming...................................................................................................................................... 54
Wrestling ....................................................................................................................................... 55
Kalmadi: A Culprit or Victim? ............................................................................................................ 55
Effect on Brand Image of India ......................................................................................................... 58
CAG Audit Report Key Points ............................................................................................................ 59
Suggestions & Recommendations .................................................................................................... 60
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 61
2G SCAM ............................................................................................................................................... 62
2G Timeline ....................................................................................................................................... 62
Oct 29, 2010: SC pulls up CBI for its tardy progress in the investigations into the scam ................. 74
Spectrum and Its Relation With Mobile Phone Services ................................................................ 118
2G And 3G Spectrum....................................................................................................................... 118

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How the Telecom Operation Is Administered ................................................................................ 119
FCFS Policy ...................................................................................................................................... 119
Understanding 2G Spectrum Scam ................................................................................................. 119
Role of the Former Telecom Minister A Raja In The Scam ............................................................. 120
Senior Officers Involved In This Scam ............................................................................................. 122
Relation Between The 2G Spectrum Scam And The Radia Tapes ................................................... 122
Role Of The Finance Minister In This Scam ..................................................................................... 122
Who Estimated the Loss of Rs 1, 76,000 Crore ............................................................................... 122
Bodies Which Brought Out This Scam in The Public Domain.......................................................... 123
Role of The Investigative Agencies CBI, ED In This Scam ................................................................ 123
What Supreme Court Said About This Scam ................................................................................... 123
Action Taken By Government Taken Till Now ................................................................................ 124
What Did the Government Do To Cover Up This Scam .................................................................. 124
Arrests Made In This Scam .............................................................................................................. 124
Companies Being Investigated ........................................................................................................ 125
Changes in the Telecommunications Sector In India ...................................................................... 125
Gaps in Policy Implementation ....................................................................................................... 125
Telecom Commission Was Not Consulted .................................................................................. 126
Views and Concerns Of Ministry Of Finance Overruled.............................................................. 126
Advice of Ministry Of Law And Justice Were Ignored ................................................................. 127
Hon'ble Prime Minister's Suggestions Were Not Followed ........................................................ 127
Arbitrary Changes By Dot In The Cut-Off Date. .......................................................................... 128
FCFS Policy Was Not Followed .................................................................................................... 128
Issue of License to Ineligible Applicants ......................................................................................... 129
Growth In Telecom Sector .............................................................................................................. 130
Overview of Policies ........................................................................................................................ 130
Methodology for Entry And Fee Structure In Various Policy Regimes ........................................... 132
Role of Telecom Regulatory Authority Of India (TRAI) ................................................................... 134
Organizational Arrangement .......................................................................................................... 135
Issue of Licenses.............................................................................................................................. 135
Spectrum Allocation........................................................................................................................ 136
Gaps in Implementation Of UAS Regime ........................................................................................ 140
Issue of Price Discovery Of Spectrum Was Over Looked ................................................................ 145
Issue of UAS Licence to Ineligible Applicants .................................................................................. 148

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Misrepresentation of Facts By The Nine Real Estate Companies ............................................... 150
False and Fictitious Claims Of Higher Paid Up Capital By 13 Companies.................................... 151
Access to Dual Technology.......................................................................................................... 152
Undue Benefits to Reliance Communications Limited ............................................................... 152
Violation of 2003 Cabinet Decision to Allow Additional Spectrum at 2001 Prices ..................... 154
Undue Advantage to Swan Telecom Pvt. Ltd in The Allocation Of Spectrum ............................ 154
Value of Spectrum Allocated Beyond the Contracted Quantity ................................................. 155
Non Fulfillment of the Roll out Obligations by the New Telecom Licensees .............................. 155
Financial Impact .............................................................................................................................. 156
Under Pricing Of 2G and Consequent Loss ................................................................................. 156
Conclusions ..................................................................................................................................... 158
RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT, 2005................................................................................................... 159
Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 159
Freedom of Information Act, 2002 ................................................................................................. 159
State Level Laws .............................................................................................................................. 160
Scope ............................................................................................................................................... 160
Private Bodies ................................................................................................................................. 160
Right to Information ....................................................................................................................... 161
Process ........................................................................................................................................ 161
Partial Disclosure ........................................................................................................................ 162
Exclusions .................................................................................................................................... 162
Information Exclusions................................................................................................................ 163
Role of Government........................................................................................................................ 164
Effects.......................................................................................................................................... 164
CASE STUDY: CBSE vs. ADITYA BANDOPADHYAY & OTHERS .............................................................. 166
Case Notes: ..................................................................................................................................... 167
The Case .......................................................................................................................................... 170
Aditya Bandhopadhyay’s Petition ................................................................................................... 170
CBSE’s Defense................................................................................................................................ 172
Evaluation Method Adopted By CBSE ............................................................................................. 173
Questions to Be Considered ........................................................................................................... 176
Relevant Legal Provisions................................................................................................................ 177
Exemption from Disclosure from Information (Section 8).......................................................... 178
Answers to the Questions ............................................................................................................... 182

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Answer To Q1. ............................................................................................................................. 182
Answer To Q2. ............................................................................................................................. 185
Answer To Q3. ............................................................................................................................. 186
Answer To Q4. ............................................................................................................................. 191
Conclusion - Judgment .................................................................................................................... 197

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THE PREVENTION OF CORRUPTION ACT, 1988
Introduction
"If we cannot make India corruption-free, then the vision of making the nation
develop by 2020 would remain as a dream."

- Dr. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam

Corruption is considered to be one of the greatest impediments on the way towards
progress for developing country like India. The economic, social and cultural
structure of our country is very strong; however, due to the menace called-
Corruption, it has been adversely affected and has become defenceless against the
forces of anti-social elements.

According to Shri N.Vittal, Former Chief Vigilance Commissioner, the first stage in
the dynamics of the rule of law is the framing of effective rules and laws, which are
equipped to hinder the ever-rising escalation of the corruption graph. It is in this
context that the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 becomes highly significant.

Genesis
The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (henceforth referred to as PCA) came into
force on 9th September, 1988. it incorporated the Prevention of Corruption Act,
1947, the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1952, and sec. 161 to 165-A of the Indian
Penal Code with modifications, enlarged the scope of the definition of the expression
'Public Servant' and amended the Criminal Law Amendment Ordinanc,k1944. The
PCA, 1988l, thereby widened the coverage, strengthened the provisions and made
them more effective.

The Prevention Of Corruption Act, 1988
Sec 2: Definations

The most important definitions are that of:
- Public duty
- Public servant

Public Duty: It means a duty that is dine for the benefit of the State, the public or the
community at a large. In this context, State would mean:

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a) A corporation established by or under a Central, Provincial or State Act.

b) An authority or a body owned controlled or aided by the Government Company as
defined in Sec. 617 of the Companies Act, 1956.

Public Servant: It is unique term in Anti-corruption law, being the deciding factor at
the threshold, of one's liability, depending on his being public servant. The term
'Public Servant' was not defined under the PCA, 1947 and the Act adopted the
definition of the term under sec. 21 of the Indian Penal Code. The PCA of 1988
provides a wider definition in the Act itself under clause (c) of sec. 2. The following
are the salient aspects of the new definition:

a) Under clause (c) of Sec.2 of the PC, the emphasis is on public duty and not on the
Authority remunerating.

b) The definition is enlarged so as to include the office-bearers of the registered co-
operative societies receiving any financial aid from the Government, or from a
Government corporation or company, the employees of universities, public service
commissions and banks etc.

Who Is A Public Servant?

a) Any person who is paid by the government or local authority or remunerated by
way of fees or commission for the performance of or is in the service of a corporation
established by or under a Central, Provincial or State Act, or an authority or body
owned or controlled or aided by the Government company as defined in the
Companies Act, 1956.

b) Any Judge or any person authorized by a court of justice to perform any duty, in
connection with the administration of justice or any arbitrator to whom any cause or
matter has been referred for decision or report by a court of justice or report by a
court of justice or by a competent public authority.

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c) Any person who holds an office result to which he is empowered to prepare,
publish maintain or revise an electoral roll or to conduct an election or part of an
election, or is authorized or required to perform any public duty.

d) Any person who is the president, secretary or other office bearer of a registered
co-operative society engaged in agriculture, industry, trade or banking, receiving or
having received any financial aid from the Central or State Government or any
authority or body owned, controlled or aided by Government or Government
company as defined in Sec. 617 of the Companies Act, 1956.

e) Any person who is a chairman, member or employee of any service commission
or Board or a member of any selection committee appointed by such Commission or
Board for the conduct of any examination or making any selection on their behalf.

f) Any person who is the Vice-Chancellor or member of any governing body,
professor, reader or lecturer of any University and any person whose services have
been availed of by a University.

g) An office-bearer or an employee of an educational, scientific, social, cultural or
other institution receiving or having received any financial assistance from the
Central or State government or local or other public authority.

Explanation 1 states that it is immaterial whether the person falling within the
periphery of the above clauses is appointed by Government or not.

Explanation 2 states that a person who is actually holding the position of the situation
of public servant irrespective of the fact that he might not have th3e right to hold that
situation shall be deemed to be 'public servant'.

Sec 3: Power to Appoint Special Judges

The Central and the State Government is empowered to appoint Special Judges by
placing a Notification in the Official Gazette, to try the following offences:

- Any offence punishable under this Act.

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- Any conspiracy to commit or any attempt to commit or any abetment of any of the
offences specified under the Act.

The qualification for the Special Judge is that he should be or should have been a
Session Judge or an Additional Session Judge or Assistant Session Judge under the
Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973

Sec 4: Cases Triable By Special Judges

Every offence mentioned in Section 3(1) shall be tried by the Special Judge for the
area within which it was committed. When trying any case, a Special Judge may also
try any offence other than what is specified in S. 3, which the accused may be, under
Cr.P.C. be charged at the same trial. The Special Judge has to hold the trial of an
offence on day-to-day basis. However, while complying with foretasted, it is to be
seen that the Cr.P.C. is not bifurcated.

Sec 5: Power & Function of Special Judges

The following are the powers of the Special Judge:

He may take cognizance of the offences without the accused being commissioned to
him for trial. In trying the accused persons, shall follow the procedure prescribed by
the Cr.P.C. for the trial of warrant cases by Magistrate, he may with a view to obtain
the evidence of any person supposed to have been directly or indirectly concerned in
or privy to an offence, tender pardon to such person provided that he would make full
and true disclosure of the whole circumstances within his knowledge or in respect to
any person related to the offence.

Except as for S. 2(1), the provisions of Cr.P.C. shall apply to the proceedings before
a Special Judge. Hence, the court of the Special Judge shall be deemed to be a
Court of Session and the person conducting a prosecution before a Special Judge
shall be deemed to be a public prosecutor.

The provisions of sections 326 and 475 of the Cr.P.C. shall apply to the proceedings
before a Special Judge and for purpose of the said provisions, a Special Judge shall
be deemed to be a magistrate.

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A Special Judge may pass a sentence authorized by law for the punishment of the
offence of which a person is convicted. A Special Judge, while trying any offence
punishable under the Act, shall exercise all powers and functions exercised by a
District Judge under the Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance, 1944.

Sec 6: Power to Try Summarily

Where a Special Judge tries any offence specified in Sec. 3(1), alleged to have been
committed by a public servant in relation to the contravention of any special order
referred to in Sec.12-A(1) of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 or all orders
referred to in sub-section (2)(a) of that section then the special judge shall try the
offence in a summarily way and the provisions of s. 262 to 265 (both inclusive) of the
said code shall as far as may be apply to such trial. Provided that in the case of any
conviction in a summary trial under this section this shall be lawful for the Special
Judge to pass a sentence of imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year.
However, when at the commencement of or in the course of a summary trial it
appears to the Special Judge that the nature of the case is such that a sentence of
imprisonment for a term exceeding one year may have to be passed or it is
undesirable to try the case summarily, the Special judge shall record all order to that
effect and thereafter recall any witnesses who may have been examined and
proceed to hear and re-hear the case in accordance with the procedure prescribed
by the said code for the trial of warrant cases by Magistrates. Moreover, there shall
be no appeal by a convicted person in any case tried summarily under this section in
which the Special Judge passes a sentence of imprisonment not exceeding one
month and of fine not exceeding Rs. 2000.

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Offences and Penalties (SECTION 7 – 16)

Sec 7: Public servant taking gratification other than legal remuneration in respect of an
official act

Whoever, being, or expecting to be a public servant, accepts or obtains or agrees to
accept or attempts to obtain from any person, for himself or for any other person, any
gratification whatever, other than legal remuneration, as a motive or reward for doing
or forbearing to do any official act or for showing or forbearing to show, in the
exercise of his official functions, favour or disfavour to any person or for rendering or
attempting to render any service or disservice to any person, with the Central
Government or any State Government or Parliament or the Legislature of any State
or with any local authority, corporation or Government company referred to in clause
(c) of section 2, or with any public servant, whether named or otherwise, shall be
punishable with imprisonment which shall be not less than six months but which may
extend to five years and shall also be liable to fine.

Explanations

(a) "Expecting to be a public servant." If a person not expecting to be in office
obtains a gratification by deceiving others into a belief that he is about to be in office,
and that he will then serve them, he may be guilty of cheating, but he is not guilty of
the offence defined in this section.

(b) "Gratification." The word "gratification" is not restricted to pecuniary gratifications
or to gratifications estimable in money.

(c) "Legal remuneration." The words "legal remuneration" are not restricted to
remuneration which a public servant can lawfully demand, but include all
remuneration which he is permitted by the Government or the organisation, which he
serves, to accept.

(d) "A motive or reward for doing." A person who receives a gratification as a motive
or reward for doing what he does not intend or is not in a position to do, or has not
done, comes within this expression.

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(e) Where a public servant induces a person erroneously to believe that his influence
with the Government has obtained a title for that person and thus induces that
person to give the public servant, money or any other gratification as a reward for
this service, the public servant has committed an offence under this section.

Sec 8: Taking gratification, in order, by corrupt or illegal means, to influence public servant

Whoever accepts or obtains, or agrees to accept, or attempts to obtain, from any
person, for himself or for any other person, any gratification whatever as a motive or
reward for inducing, by corrupt or illegal means, any public servant, whether named
or otherwise, to do or to forbear to do any official act, or in the exercise of the official
functions of such public servant to show favour or disfavour to any person, or to
render or attempt to render any service or disservice to any person with the Central
Government or any State Government or Parliament or the Legislature of any State
or with any local authority, corporation or Government company referred to in clause
(c) of section 2, or with any public servant, whether named or otherwise, shall be
punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall be not less than six months but
which may extend to five years and shall also be liable to fine.

Sec 9: Taking gratification, for exercise of personal influence with public servant

Whoever accepts or obtains or agrees to accept or attempts to obtain, from any
person, for himself or for any other person, any gratification whatever, as a motive or
reward for inducing, by the exercise of personal influence, any public servant
whether named or otherwise to do or to forbear to do any official act, or in the
exercise of the official functions of such public servant to show favour or disfavour to
any person, or to render or attempt to render any service or disservice to any person
with the Central Government or any State Government or Parliament or the
Legislature of any State or with any local authority, corporation or Government
company referred to in clause (c) of section 2, or with any public servant, whether
named or otherwise, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall be
not less than six months but which may extend. to five years and shall also be liable
to fine.

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Sec 10: Punishment for abetment by public servant of offences defined in section 8 or 9

Whoever, being a public servant, in respect of whom either of the offences defined in
section 8 or section 9 is committed, abets the offence, whether or not that offence is
committed in consequence of that abetment, shall be punishable with imprisonment
for a term which shall be not less than six months but which may extend to five years
and shall also be liable to fine.

Sec 11: Public servant obtaining valuable thing, without consideration from person
concerned in proceeding or business transacted by such public servant

Whoever, being a public servant, accepts or obtains or agrees to accept or attempts
to obtain for himself, or for any other person, any valuable thing without
consideration, or for a consideration which he knows to be inadequate, from any
person whom he knows to have been, or to be, or to be likely to be concerned in any
proceeding or business transacted or about to be transacted by such public servant,
or having any connection with the official functions of himself or of any public servant
to whom he is subordinate, or from any person whom he knows to be interested in or
related to the person so concerned, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term
which shall be not less than six months but which may extend to five years and shall
also be liable to fine.

Sec 12: Punishment for abetment of offences defined in section 7 or 11

Whoever abets any offence punishable under section 7 or section 11 whether or not
that offence is committed in consequence of that abetment, shall be punishable with
imprisonment for a term which shall be not less than six months but which may
extend to five years and shall also be liable to fine.

Sec 13: Criminal misconduct by a public servant

(1) A public servant is said to commit the offence of criminal misconduct,-

(a) if he habitually accepts or obtains or agrees to accept or attempts to obtain from
any person for himself or for any other person any gratification other than legal
remuneration as a motive or reward such as is mentioned in section 7; or

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(b) if he habitually accepts or obtains or agrees to accept or attempts to obtain for
himself or for any other person, any valuable thing without consideration or for a
consideration which he knows to be inadequate from any person whom he knows to
have been, or to be, or to be likely to be concerned in any proceeding or business
transacted or about to be transacted by him, or having any connection with the
official functions of himself or of any public servant to whom he is subordinate, or
from any person whom he knows to be interested in or related to the person so
concerned; or

(c) if he dishonestly or fraudulently misappropriates or otherwise converts for his own
use any property entrusted to him or under his control as a public servant or allows
any other person so to do; or

(d) If he,-

(i) By corrupt or illegal means, obtains for himself or for any other person any
valuable thing or pecuniary advantage; or

(ii) By abusing his position as a public servant, obtains for himself or for any other
person any valuable thing or pecuniary advantage; or

(iii) While holding office as a public servant, obtains for any person any valuable
thing or pecuniary advantage without any public interest; or

(e) if he or any person on his behalf, is in possession or has, at any time during the
period of his office, been in possession for which the public servant cannot
satisfactorily account, of pecuniary resources or property disproportionate to his
known sources of income.

Explanation

For the purposes of this section, "known sources of income" means income received
from any lawful source and such receipt has been intimated in accordance with the

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provisions of any law, rules or orders for the time being applicable to a public
servant.

(2) Any public servant who commits criminal misconduct shall be punishable with
imprisonment for a term which shall be not less than one year but which may extend
to seven years and shall also be liable to fine.

Sec 14: Habitual committing of offence under sections 8, 9 and 12

Whoever habitually commits-

(a) An offence punishable under section 8 or section 9; or
(b) An offence punishable under section 12,

shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall be not less than two
years but which may extend to seven years and shall also be liable to fine.

Sec 15: Punishment for attempt

Whoever attempts to commit an offence referred to in clause (c) or clause (d) of sub-
section (1) of section 13 shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may
extend to three years and with fine.

Sec 16: Matters to be taken into consideration for fixing fine

Where a sentence of fine is imposed, under sub-section (2) of section 13 or section
14, the court in fixing the amount of the fine shall taken into consideration the
amount or the value of the property, if any, which the accused person has obtained
by committing the offence or where the conviction is for an offence referred to in
clause (e) of sub-section (1) of section 13, the pecuniary resources or property
referred to in that clause for which the accused person is unable to account
satisfactorily.

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Investigation (SECTIONS 17 – 31)

Sec 17: Persons authorized to investigate

Investigation shall be done by a police officer not below the rank of:

a] In case of Delhi, of an Inspector of Police.

b] In metropolitan areas, of an Assistant Commissioner of Police.

c] Elsewhere, of a Deputy Superintendent of Police or an officer of equivalent rank
shall investigate any offence punishable under this Act without the order of a
Metropolitan Magistrate or a magistrate of first class, or make any arrest therefore
without a warrant.

If a police officer no below the rank of an Inspector of Police is authorized by the
State Government in this behalf by general or special order, he may investigate such
offence without the order of a Metropolitan Magistrate or Magistrate of First class or
make arrest therefore without a warrant.

Sec 19: Previous Sanctions

Previous sanction is required in following cases:

When an offence is punishable under sections 7,10,11,13 and 15 of the Act,
In case of a person who is employed in connection with the affairs of the Union or
State and is not removable from his office save by or with the sanction of the Central
or State Government as the case may be. In case of any other person, of authority
competent to remove him from his office.

Previous sanction is required; if the court feels that a failure has occurred in the
administration of justice, to do the following:

Reversal or alteration by the Court of Appeal of any findings, or any sentence or
order passed by a Special Judge. stay the proceedings on the ground of error,
omission or irregularity. Revision of any interlocutory order passed in inquiry, trial,
appeal or proceedings.

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Sec 21: Accused: A Competent Witness

Any person charged with an offence punishable under this Act, shall be a competent
witness for the defence and may give evidence on oath in disproof of the charges
made against him or any person charged together with him at the same trial:

Provided that-

(a) He shall not be called as a witness except at his own request;

(b) His failure to give evidence shall not be made the subject of any comment by the
prosecution or give rise to any presumption against himself or any person charged
together with him at the same trial;

(c) He shall not be asked, and if asked shall not be required to answer, any question
tending to show that he has committed or been convicted of any offence other than
the offence with which he is charged, or is of bad character, unless-

(i) The proof that he has committed or been convicted of such offence is admissible
evidence to show that he is guilty of the offence with which he is charged, or

(ii) He has personally or by his pleader asked any question of any witness for the
prosecution with a view to establish his own good character, or has given evidence
of his good character, or the nature or conduct of the defence is such as to involve
amputations on the character of the prosecutor or of any witness for the prosecution,
or

(iii) He has given evidence against any other person charged with the same offence.

Sec 27: Appeal And Revision

The High Court has given all power of appeal and revision that are provided to it
through Cr.P.C. as if the Court of Special Judge were a Court of Session trying
cases within the local limits of the High Court.

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Conclusion

Corruption is a termite that is eating up the pith of our society it not only hampers the
individual's growth but also the collective growth of our Country. Hence, it stands
highly imperative to control and then stop this growing menace and in this case the
Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 comes to our aid. In fact, the Act has been
beautifully drafted; however, a huge power has been vested in the hands of the
Central and State Government in form of appointment of Special Judges, providing
sanctions etc. Hence the Act would become oblivious if the matter in question is
related to Central or State Governments. The PCA despite of this lacuna is a very
powerful Act which needs proper implementation in order to curb corruption from
grass root-level.

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COMMON WEALTH GAMES SCAM

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CWG Background
The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes
from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes
place every four years.

It was initially known as the British Empire Games and was renamed to the British
Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1954 and the British Commonwealth Games
in 1970, before finally gaining its current title for the 1978 edition. The Games are
overseen by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), which also controls the
sporting programme and selects the host cities. A host city is selected for each
edition and eighteen cities in seven countries have hosted the event.

As well as many Olympic sports, the Games also include some sports that are
played mainly in Commonwealth countries, such as lawn bowls, rugby sevens and
netball.[1] Only six teams have attended every Commonwealth Games: Australia,
Canada, England, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales. Australia has been the
highest achieving team for eleven games, England for seven and Canada for one.

Although there are 54 members of the Commonwealth of Nations, 71 teams
participate in the Commonwealth Games as a number of British overseas territories,
Crown dependencies, and island states compete under their own flag. The four
Home Nations of the United Kingdom – England, Scotland, Wales and Northern
Ireland – also send separate teams.

CWG XIX New Delhi
The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX Commonwealth
Games, were held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 2010. A total of 6,081
athletes from 71 Commonwealth nations and dependencies competed in 21 sports
and 272 events, making it the largest Commonwealth Games till date. It was also the
largest international multi-sport event to be staged in Delhi and India, eclipsing the
Asian Games in 1951 and 1982. The opening and closing ceremonies were held at
the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the main stadium of the event. It was the first time
that the Commonwealth Games were held in India and the second time it was held in
Asia after Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1998. The official mascot of the Games was
Shera and the official song of the Games, "Jiyo Utho Bado Jeeto", was composed by
celebrated Indian musician A.R. Rahman.

21

Preparation for the Games received widespread international media attention, with
criticism being leveled against the organizers for the slow pace of work, as well as
issues related to security and hygiene. However, all member nations of the
Commonwealth of Nations participated in the event, except Fiji, which is suspended
from the Commonwealth, and Tokelau, which didn't send a team, in spite of threats
of boycotts and athlete withdrawals. The internationally acclaimed opening ceremony
improved the image of the Games, and dispelled negative notions surrounding them,
with many observers remarking that they began on an apprehensive note, but were
an exceptional experience with a largely positive ending. The President of the
International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, said that India had made a good
foundation for a future Olympics bid, which was reiterated by the Australian Ministry
of Sports. Commonwealth games Federation Chief Mike Fennell stated that "Delhi
delivered a fantastic Games". Some observers accused sections of the media of
bias, unfair expectations, and negative reporting.

The final medal tally was led by Australia. The host nation India had its best
performance ever to finish second.

How Delhi Got It - Bidding
The two principal bids for the 2010 Commonwealth Games were from Delhi, India
and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. A ballot of members was held in November 2003 at
the Commonwealth Games Federation General Assembly in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
Delhi bid won by a margin of 46 votes to 22, confirming India's first successful bid for
the Games. The bid was Canada's attempt to hold the games for the fifth time.
India's bid motto was - ―New Frontiers and Friendships‖.

India shifted the balance in its favor in the second round of voting with a promise that
it would provide US$100,000 to each participating country, along with air tickets,
boarding, lodging and transport. The successful 2003 Afro-Asian Games in
Hyderabad showed India had the resources, infrastructure and technical know-how
to stage a big sporting event.

Organizing Committee
The Organizing Committee Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi (OC CWG Delhi
2010) is organized into distinct Functional Areas, each relates to an area critical to
the successful delivery of the Games. A Functional Area or a cluster of related

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Functional Areas is headed by a Joint Director General (JDG) or an Additional
Director General supported by Deputy Director Generals, Advisors, Directors, Project
Officers, Assistant Project Officers, Administrative Assistant and Support Staff. A
total of 36 Functional Areas are envisaged in the General Operational Plan (GOP) of
the OC CWG Delhi 2010.

The OC CWG Delhi 2010 is structured along the following working groups:

OC CWG Delhi 2010 General Body
Executive Board
Executive Management
Assurance
Sub-committees
Secretariat
Functional Areas
Expert Groups & Consultants

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Key Stakeholders
The Host City Contract identifies and binds the five key stakeholders who are
responsible for the successful delivery of the XIX Commonwealth Games 2010
Delhi. It is incumbent upon these stakeholders to undertake all measures, including
adequate financial provisions, to deliver the Games in the most befitting manner
within the framework of the Constitution, Protocol and Guidelines of the
Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF). The key delivery partners are:

Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF);
Indian Olympic Association (IOA);
Organizing Committee (OC);
Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD);
Government of India (GoI).

Objectives of OC

Prepare for, organize and conduct the XIX Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi in
the National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi;
Prepare for, organize and conduct other events (including sports and cultural
activities and festivals) as part of the XIX Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi
including the Commonwealth Youth Games;
Promote all such activities that may be useful, necessary or helpful and which
contribute towards the conduct of the XIX Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi;
Conduct XIX Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi in a manner that would
encourage sports development and physical recreation and promote the shared
values of integrity, fair play, competence, team work, commitment to excellence,
respect for gender equality and tolerance including the fight against the use of
drugs and unhealthy or performance enhancing substances;
Advise all offices, institutions, government and other bodies of associations that
may be associated with the holding of the XIX Commonwealth Games 2010
Delhi;
Decide on all matters connected with the preparations and holding of the XIX
Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi and bringing it to a successful completion;
and

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Do all such lawful things that are incidental or conducive to the attainment of the
above objectives or of any of them.

Vision, Mission & Values

Vision

The vision of the Organizing Committee Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi is to
inculcate sports consciousness and culture in every Indian.

Mission

Deliver the ‗Best Commonwealth Games Ever‘
Build state-of-the-art sporting and city infrastructure for the facilitation of the
Games
Create a suitable environment and opportunities for the involvement of the
citizens in the Games
Showcase the culture and heritage of India
Project Delhi as a global destination
Project India as an economic power
Leave behind a lasting legacy

Values

In fulfilling its mission, the OC CWG Delhi 2010 will exhibit and abide by the following
values in its day-today operations:

Sportsmanship
Integrity
Excellence
Solidarity
Diversity
Competence
Transparency
Discipline

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Costs
The initial total budget estimated by the Indian Olympic Association in 2003 for
hosting the Games was 1,620 crore (US$328.54 million). In 2010, however, the
official total budget soon escalated to an estimated 11,500 crore (US$2.33 billion), a
figure which excluded non-sports-related infrastructure development. Business
Today magazine estimated that the Games cost 60,000 crore (US$12.17 billion).
The 2010 Commonwealth Games are reportedly the most expensive Commonwealth
Games ever.

That is 114 times more than the estimated original price tag of the Games, and four
times what the government spends on the National Rural Health Mission every year.

Timeline of CWG
In the run-up to the 3 October -14 October Games, the event which should have
highlighted India as an emerging global power threatened to turn into a national
embarrassment.

Following is a timeline of events

*********************

22 September 2010 | Several big name athletes have pulled out of the
Commonwealth Games citing security and health worries, adding to woes of an

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event meant to showcase India‘s ability to stand up with the likes of China on the
world stage.

21 September 2010 | The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) has given the
organizing committee two days to fix the facilities at the village even as the Prime
Minister‘s Office (PMO) intervened to demand an explanation from all concerned
agencies.

21 September 2010 | A footbridge under construction at the main stadium for
the Delhi Commonwealth Games collapsed on Tuesday, injuring up to six laborers,
an AFP reporter and police said.

21 September 2010 | Piling on the embarrassment for the organizers,
Commonwealth Games Federation chief executive Mike Hooper on Tuesday termed
the Athletes Village as ―filthy and uninhabitable‖ but hoped that with Commonwealth
Games Federation president Michael Fennell‘s intervention, the mess would be
sorted out in the next two days.

20 September 2010 | The Commonwealth Games will be safe, organizers insisted
Monday after a weekend gun attack sparked new security fears as the city gears up
to host thousands of athletes.

16 September 2010 | Beset by stories of corruption, a dengue epidemic and leaking
roofs of stadia, Commonwealth Games authorities showed off new venues in the

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face of a Workers clear the debris from a pedestrian bridge that collapsed outside
Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, the main venue for the Commonwealth Games, in New
Delhi on Tuesday. Storm of media criticism amid worries the Games, a showcase for
this emerging global giant, could be a disaster.

08 September 2010 | Just a week left for an international team to fly in for a final
inspection and the Commonwealth Games Village still looks like an island in the
Yamuna. Unable to drain the rainwater that has collected, which is breeding
mosquitoes, a desperate Delhi government has decided to call in the army.

20 August 2010 | All allegations of corruption against Delhi Commonwealth Games
organizers should be probed, CGF chief Mike Fennell said as he wrapped up a two-
day inspection of the venues by identifying some areas of concern which need to be
addressed immediately.

19 August 2010 Two state-run firms have withdrawn their sponsorship of the Delhi
Commonwealth Games due to ―negative publicity‖ of the event stemming from
allegations of graft and mismanagement.

14 August 2010 | Against the backdrop of a spate of controversies surrounding the
Commonwealth Games (CWG), Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will hold a meeting
with the ministers concerned on Saturday evening to review preparations for the
mega event to be held in October.

10 August 2010 | Mint deviates from the scandals emerging on an almost daily
basis to look at ten things that need to be completed to ensure the Commonwealth
games will be held at all.

06 August 2010 | Suresh Kalmadi, the man at the centre of the controversies
surrounding the Commonwealth Games (CWG) survived to fight another day, but
three of his aides were suspended by the Games‘ organizing committee (OC).

06 August 2010 | From leaking venue roofs to inflated orders of taxis and mobile
toilets, rows over New Delhi‘s Commonwealth Games have prompted Indian soul-
searching and piled pressure on the embattled ruling Congress party.

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03 August 2010 | The Commonwealth Games seem to be sinking deeper into the
quagmire as reports of corruption, faked certificates and unending construction
delays become rife.

03 August 2010 | The growing allegations about the mismanagement of funds by
the organizers of the Commonwealth Games provided ready ammunition to the
opposition parties in Parliament as they trained their guns on the ruling Congress.

02 August 2010 | The government‘s plans to create a sizeable cushion to tide over
any power shortage that could arise during the Commonwealth Games (CWG)
suffered a setback following a delay in commissioning two proposed units of 500MW
each.

28 July 2010 | The spiraling expenditure on the Commonwealth Games implies a
heavy opportunity cost, while the benefit will only be a few moments in the limelight.

28 July 2010 | The Congress has disapproved of the public sparring between Mani
Shankar Aiyar and Suresh Kalmadi over the Commonwealth Games, saying senior
leaders of the party should speak responsibly when they reply to any issue in public.

22 July 2010 | The organizing committee of the Commonwealth Games (CWG) has
floated 19 tenders for which the bidding deadline varies from as few as two days to a
maximum of 21 days.

20 July 2010 | India aims the Commonwealth Games will be a showcase of its
economic clout, but with less than three months to go, the world‘s third largest
sporting event is instead laying bare its perennial infrastructure problems.

23 march 2010 | Delhi‘s Congress government has, citing a law that bans the sale of
beef in the city-state, said it wouldn‘t be on offer to athletes and support staff during
the Games, according to Raj Kumar Chauhan, minister for revenue and the public
works department. Hindus consider the cow to be a holy animal.

04 march 2010 | The government has reinstated Sanjiv Mittal, a financial expert who
was ousted from the Commonwealth Games (CWG) organizing committee by its
chairman Suresh Kalmadi almost a fortnight back in what was perceived at the time
as a snub to the Prime Minister‘s Office (PMO).

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18 February 2010 | With less than 230 days left for the Commonwealth Games
(CWG), an internal audit by the organizing committee in the first week of February
revealed that none of the key logistics such as security, accommodation and
transport to move officials as well as athletes have been completed by the 16
February deadline.

15 February 2010 | A delay of nearly four months in reaching a decision appears to
have almost jeopardized the international broadcasting, security and data networks
of 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games (CWG).

13 February 2010 | In five police stations across Delhi, batches of 50 policemen--
constables through inspectors--go through their classes in a day-and-a-half; with 16
such batches per police station, which translates into 4,000 policemen per month.

05 January 2010 | Delhi‘s chief minister is nervous about the hosting of
Commonwealth Games in the capital but the event‘s Organising Committee head
Suresh Kalmadi assures that all is well with the preparations despite umpteen
delays.

26 November 2009 | Where there‘s a few million dollars of expenditure, there‘s
usually an economic study pondering how the money was spent. This is particularly
true of big-ticket sporting events such as the Olympic or Commonwealth Games.
Even as the cost of hosting the Olympics touched a dizzying $40 billion in Beijing last
year—more than the entire gross domestic product of Sri Lanka—the literature on
the economic effects of such games has grown. Most scholars see only negative
economic benefits to hosting these events. From past studies, Mint culls five key
conclusions and transplants the benefit of their hindsight into Delhi‘s preparations for
the Games.

16 November 2009 | With less than a year left, work is being accelerated on Games
venues and city infrastructure, but for construction workers it hasn‘t meant boom
times.

09 November 2009 | India needs to draw up a comprehensive long-term sporting
program so that the money that‘s being spent on the Commonwealth Games doesn‘t
go down the drain.

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The first is the issue of legacy and the second is with respect to developing a robust
and flexible disaster management system.

05 November 2009 | Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has decided to get involved in
the effort to get the Capital ready for next year‘s Commonwealth Games, seeking to
avert a potential national embarrassment on account of shoddy preparations for the
country‘s biggest sporting event in 27 years.

05 November 2009 | India has more than doubled the funds allotted for the2010
Commonwealth Games and is convening a special meeting of the Union cabinet to
review preparations. The decisions by the cabinet come after Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh decided to become involved in preparations for the Games that
have come in for significant criticism in the past few months.

28 October 2009 | Earlier this year, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)
produced a report that evaluated the progress of Delhi‘s preparation for the 2010
Commonwealth Games.

01 October 2009 | Real estate developer Emaar MGF Land Ltd, preparing for an
initial public offering, will have to pay the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) a
penalty if there is a delay in the completion of the Commonwealth Games Village
project.

03 June 2009 | After the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) bailed out real estate
developer Emaar MGF Land Ltd by agreeing to purchase 333 flats at the
Commonwealth Games Village for Rs700 crore, the civil contractor for the project
says that it had received most of the dues that Emaar MGF owed.

15 March 2009 | The 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi could be cancelled
if a security assessment one month from the start deemed them unsafe to proceed,
said a leading Australian official.

08 March 2009 | The Commonwealth Games Village in Delhi is unlikely to be
completed on time because of alleged delays in payment by the developer, Emaar
MGF Land Ltd.

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04 March 2009 | The 2010 Commonwealth Games will adopt security methods
similar to those used at last year‘s Beijing Olympics, its chief said, allaying fears the
attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team could scupper the event.

06 January 2009 | The global economic meltdown has hit the preparation of 2010
Commonwealth Games and Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi
Tuesday said the budget for the mega-event will be increased in view of the financial
crisis.

04 December 2008 | The Union government is concerned about the pace at which
infrastructure projects sanctioned for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi
are being built and the availability of hotel rooms in the Capital for the event.
According to Union minister for science and technology KapilSibal, the Centre has
formed a group of ministers (GoM) to monitor the construction work.

24 March 2008 | The Union government appears to have made sure that
construction of the Commonwealth Games Village on the ecologically sensitive
Yamuna riverbed will continue, despite at least two scientific studies concluding that
no permanent structures should come up in that area in order to protect the flood
plain.

08 March 2008 | State-owned India Tourism Development Corp. Ltd (ITDC) has
embarked on a makeover worth Rs170 crore at more than half of its 15 properties
ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, a senior executive said.

18 July 2007 | The initiative is an attempt to address what is expected to be a
shortage of affordable rooms in the city during the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

CWG Scam Irregularity
Liquid Soap Dispensers rented for Rs 9,379 a piece or $206
After a bidding process, the OC selected four foreign firms for their mega
turnkey deal and, as it now transpires, while one vendor, Nussli of
Switzerland, for instance, is charging Rs 187 for renting out each ―liquid soap
dispenser,‖ another firm, British consortium ESAJV, is charging Rs 9,379 for
the same item. While the Hong Kong-based Pico Deepali Overlays

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Consortium is charging the OC Rs 2 for a single disposable glass, the ESAJV
consortium is charging India Rs 37 per glass.
All the hired items were split into seven operational ―clusters‖ covering all the
60 venues of the Games. Each cluster is made up of specific stadia and
venues.
An 82.5 KVA generator set is hired by OC for Rs 4.65 lakh from Pico Deepali.
A generator of the same specifications was hired from Nussli for Rs 14.58
lakh.
There is a difference of almost Rs 60 lakh for hiring a single public display
system of identical size and pitch between Pico Deepali and ESAJV with
several such systems being hired for a single games cluster
Operating Expenses escalating from Rs 399 crore in December 2002 to Rs
1,628 crore finally.
Medical equipment including tread mills have been bought or rented at 6-7
times their original price.
Allegations that funds meant for India's most deprived sections - the SC/ST -
have been diverted to the games funds. Stealing from the poor to fund the
elite's luxuries?

Construction so fragile, it falls before completion

The commonwealth games 2010 related infrastructure projects have left India's
capital city, New Delhi, resembling a war zone. Practically all roads are dug up,
cables lying all around, people jumping over little rocks as the pavements
resemble Moon like craters. With more than 50,000 crore rupees already pumped
in one would have expected at least decent output. Pitfalls:

The newly built shooting range at the Siri Fort area collapsed after one heavy
shower
The foot over bridge adjacent to the main venue of the Commonwealth
Games collapsed while being erected, injuring 27 workers who were dumped
into a tow away truck to a municipal hospital and dished out a compensation
of measly Rs 50,000 ($1097) for broken skulls and multiple fractures.

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Many of the games venues leaked during the monsoon and roofs of some
collapsed.
The Commonwealth Games village, the place where athletes from
participating countries will be put up is infested with dog poo, snakes, clogged
toilets, and unfinished work.
Fancy bill boards have erected all over the city to hide the piles of garbage,
slums that are a trademark sight in any major city in India.

Labor Law Violations
Campaigners in India have accused the organizers of enormous and
systematic violations of labor laws at construction sites. Human Rights Law
Network reports that independent investigations have discovered more than
70 cases where workers have died in accidents at construction sites since
work began. Although official numbers have not been released, it is estimated
that over 415,000 contract daily wage workers are working on Games
projects. Unskilled workers are paid 85 (US$1.7) to 100 (US$2) per day
while skilled workers are paid 120 (US$2.4) to 130 (US$2.6) INR per day
for eight hours of work. Workers also state that they are paid 134
(US$2.7) to 150 (US$3) for 12 hours of work (eight hours plus four hours of
overtime). Both these wages contravene the stipulated Delhi state minimum
wage of 152 (US$3.1) for eight hours of work. Nearly 50 construction
workers have died in the past two years while employed on Games projects.
These represent violations of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948; Interstate
Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Condition of Services) Act
1979, and the constitutionally enshrined fundamental rights per the 1982
Supreme Court of India judgment on Asiad workers. The public have been
banned from the camps where workers live and work – a situation which
human rights campaigners say prevents the garnering of information
regarding labor conditions and number of workers.

There have been documented instances of the presence of young children at
hazardous construction sites, due to a lack of child care facilities for women
workers living and working in the labor camp style work sites. Furthermore,

34

workers on the site of the main Commonwealth stadium have reportedly been
issued with hard hats, yet most work in open-toed sandals and live in
cramped tin tenements in which illnesses are rife. The High Court of Delhi is
presently hearing a public interest petition relating to employers not paying
employees for overtime and it has appointed a four-member committee to
submit a report on the alleged violations of workers‘ rights.
During the construction of the Games Village, there was controversy over
financial mismanagement, profiteering by the Delhi Development Authority and
private real estate companies, and inhumane working conditions.

CAG Report:
Kalmadi deliberately delayed CWG contract
 'It was a significant failure and was the culmination of indecision of the
OC on whether to execute the work internally or through outsourcing'
No agreement for foreign consultants
 'OC in February 2010 decided to engage the consultancy firm at a cost
of Rs 98,500. Though the entire amount was released to the firm, OC
couldn't produce to any formal agreement in support of the payment'
CWG DG colluded with vendors
 'Though Nusli with annual turnover of Rs 418,27cr was eligible for
bidding for maximum 3 clusters, but OC allowed them to bid for 7 at the
instance of VK Verma, Dir Gen. Reason for this has not been recorded
in any of the documents'
Collusion between OC officials and vendors
 'Content of the consortium agreement indicates that the firm prior to the
date of publication of EOI was aware of the requirement of forming
consortium with Indian partners, about last date of submission of pre
qualification bid, etc. This indicates collusion between OC officials and
vendors'
'Colluded to form a cartel'
 'Such coincidence and precision of estimates, rarely seen in practice,
points out towards a collusion and possibility of cartel among the
vendors'

35

Corruption in marketing: SMAM angle?
 Indifference is significant in the light of the fact that the OC's revenue
generation targets were by then far behind schedule and expenditure
had already gone up manifold, liability for which was ultimately borne
by GoI'.

Legal Cases against CWG Committee
The CBI has registered ten FIRs so far in the cases related to alleged irregularities in
the conduct of Commonwealth Games. One of these cases has been discussed in
brief below:

The CBI registered cases against six officials of CWG Organizing Committee and
two private firms for extending undue favors while appointing official Master Licensee
for merchandising and retailing during the games. Immediately, after filing of the
case, a team of CBI officials carried out search operations at 10 locations in Delhi,
Mumbai, Gurgaon, Chandigarh and Panchkula. The agency named six OC members
including the then director general Mr. VK Verma, joint director general (finance) Mr.
KUK Reddy, DDG (legal) Mr. Ram Mohan, DDG (procurement) Mr. Surjit Lal, (F & A)
Mr. M Jeychandran and the then ADG (Image and Look) Ms Sangita Welingkar and
firms Compact Disc India Limited (CDIL) and its group arm Premier Branch Private
Limited (PBPL), official sources said. The CBI alleged that these officials entered into
criminal conspiracy with the officials of the firms and by abusing their official
positions, extended undue favor to PBPL in appointing it as official Master License
for Merchandising and On-line and Retail Concessionaire for CWG-2010 for
sportswear, casual wear, kids wears against a minimum royalty amount of Rs 7.05
crore, they said.
The agency alleged in the case that after scrapping of the earlier bid on flimsy
grounds, the Evaluation Committee of the OC CWG-2010, dishonestly considered
the PBPL on the basis of the goodwill of CDIL, and on negotiations, PBPL submitted
an offer of Rs 5.20 crore for acquiring all the rights of master licensee for
merchandising, they said.
―Thereafter the private company (PBPL) submitted two cheques amounting to Rs 3.5
crore but the same were dishonored by the bank and as such the OC did not receive

36

any amount from the private company,‖ official spokesperson Ms Dharini Mishra said
here. Thus, it is alleged that the accused private company actually used the CWG
brand properties and earned a huge profit, but did not pay anything to the OC, and
the accused public servants caused huge pecuniary advantage to director of the
private company and corresponding wrongful loss to the government exchequer, she
said.

Further, Commonwealth Games Organizing Committee is fighting 14 legal cases
filed by several firms and its former employees seeking their dues. These cases
related to the finance department, workforce, catering, merchandising unit, cleaning
and waste management units, technology department and other works connected
with organising of the Games. Some of these cases are:

Ex-treasurer M Jayachandran, who is lodged in Tihar jail, has slapped a Rs
five-crore defamation suit in the Delhi High Court against the OC for allegedly
tarnishing his image. Jayachandran is an accused in the Timing-Scoring-
Result (TSR) scam that has led to a loss of over Rs 95 crore to the
exchequer. The CBI has accused him of manipulating the minutes of OC's
Finance Committee to justify the alleged forgery in the award of TSR contract.

OC's former chief of technology department Rajesh Kumar has moved the
high court for alleged harassment by the management among other charges.

Two companies - Unique Infoways and Bite and Byte - have also gone to the
high court seeking dues.

37

Parties Involved

Politician

Law
Bureaucrats
Enforcers
CAG
SCAM

Business Corporations

Politicians Involved

 Suresh Kalmadi, the Congress party representative to 15 Lok Sabha from the
Pune constituency. He was the Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the
Delhi Commonwealth games.
 Sheila Dikshit, Chief minister of Delhi: Was indicted for several irregularities in the
CWG processes both by Shunglu committee and also by the CAG

Bureaucrats Involved

 Lalit Bhanot, Secretary General of the Organising committee
 TS Darbari, Joint Director General of the Organising committee
 Sanjay Mahindroo, Deputy Director General of the Organising committee
 BS Lalli, CEO of Prasar Bharati
 M Jayachandran, Joint Director General (Accounts and Finance)

Corporations Involved

 AM Films

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 AM Cars
 SIS Live
 Jaypee Group, Its alleged that the proceeds of corruption are parked here
through financial involvement of Suresh Kalmadi's son, Sumeer Kalmadi in the F1
circuit project at Greater Noida.
 MTNL
 HCL Infosystems

Businessmen Involved

 RSP Sinha, MTNL CMD
 SM Talwar, Executive director MTNL
 NK Jain, GM (Corporate Sales) MTNL
 Jitendra Garg, DGM MTNL

Whistleblowers/ Law Enforcers
The scam was unearthed by CAG even before the conduct of the games. Presently
the scam is being probed by the CBI.

Scams
The various contracts were manipulated by Kalmadi and team and allegedly
misappropriated huge amounts in the process.

Time Scoring Results System
Kalmadi has been accused of awarding illegal contracts to a Swiss firm for Timing-
Scoring-Result system for the Games causing a loss of Rs 95 crore to the
exchequer.

Queens Baton Relay
The Enforcement Directorate is probing the flow of funds and forex during the
Queens Baton Relay held in London prior to the Commonwealth Games, apart from
investigating the overlays-related works of the Games under the Prevention of
Money Laundering Act. The ED case registered the case under Fema after British
authorities referred to the Indian High Commission a matter regarding hiring of
London-based transport firm AM Cars and Vans at exorbitant prices, and to similar

39

high payments to AM Films for installing video screens at the venue of the Queen's
Baton Relay.

Broadcast Network
CBI registered another case in the Commonwealth Games scam and searched
residences of officials of Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Limited, or MTNL, and Noida
based HCL Infosystems for allegedly inflating cost of setting up a broadcast network
for the Games by nearly Rs 400 crore.

It is alleged that MTNL awarded the work of broadcast network based on IP/MPLS
Technology at an exorbitant price of approximately Rs 570.12 crore by manipulating
specifications in such a manner as to make them tailor made for the said bidder to
the said private company (HCL)," Mishra said. The agency alleged that initial
estimate of broadcasting data transmission project for the sporting extravaganza was
very limited with an initial estimate of Rs 31.43 crore, but MTNL officials included a
Broadcast Video Network based on IP-MPLS technology, which resulted in cost
escalation by Rs 380.04 crore.

CBI alleged that this change in specification was done with an intention to cause
huge pecuniary advantage to HCL Infosystems, causing loss to the exchequer.

Recruitment to Organising Committee
CBI sources lodged Preliminary Enquiry report against unknown persons in the
Games organising body after it received several complaints and references from the
Central Vigilance Commission claiming violation of norms in the appointments. They
said the complainants alleged involvement of sacked OC Chairman Suresh Kalmadi,
who is at present in judicial custody, and his close aides for irregularities in the
recruitment process.

In its PE, the CBI has alleged that during the period of 2003 to 2009, some persons
were nominated to the OC who had no expertise for various jobs. The Games
organising body had an overall strength of about 2,100 officials engaged for various
duties related to the mega sporting event. At present, there are about 100 officials on
the rolls. The CVC has also conducted an enquiry into the alleged recruitment scam
following complaints that it showed ghost employees on its muster rolls and violated
norms while inducting people. The High Level Shunglu Committee had also found
alleged irregularities in the recruitment procedures followed by certain OC officials.

40

CNN-IBN NDTV Hindustan Times
The CAG has questioned the deals between the CWG and certain media houses as
the organising committee (OC) apparently resorted to pick-and-choose policy in the
award of contracts worth over Rs. 6.73 crore. The CAG, in its report, tabled in
Parliament last week, has dubbed the process arbitrary and biased.

The contract for production and broadcasting of commercials was given to two news
channels, CNN-IBN and NDTV. The CAG said the OC followed an arbitrary
approach with no planning for specific channels, time slots and cost benefit analysis.
The CAG is more severe in its observations on the contract for creating a Games
Time website, meant to put out real time information on sporting events, given to HT-
Hungama - a consortium comprising Hindustan Times and Hungama. It has
lambasted the process of awarding the contract to the consortium and said their
work was deficient. A benevolent OC overlooked the non-performance and did not
encash the performance guarantee of Rs. 0.29 crore. A contract tweaked in favour of
HT-Hungama had no other provisions for penalties case of non-performance, the
CAG said.

It said the bidding process was squeezed and completed within two months, leading
to several irregularities. Among the three bidders, HT-Hungama's documentation
was deficient but ignored by the technical committee. It led the CAG to conclude that
the process was tailored in HT-Hungama's favour.

Response to Scam

 Kalmadi and Bhanot was sacked from the Organising Commitee by the Sports
ministry on Jan 2011
 Shunglu panel was constituted by Prime minister Manmohan Singh to go into the
irregularities in the conduct of the Games.
 After his arrest on 25 Apr 2011, Suresh Kalmadi was suspended by the Indian
National Congress

41

CWG Impact

Safety &
security
concern

Socio
Vandalism of
economic
games village
impact

Impact
of CWG
Infrastructure Organizational
Issue failure

Racism Sporting
Allegation controversy

We will discuss all of them one by one.

42

Socio Economic Impact

Socio Economic
Impact

Social & Sex &
Financial environmental Urban change prostitution
impact Boom

Financial

A leading research remarked that the 2010 Commonwealth Games will create "a
negative financial legacy for the country" and asked "when one in three Indians lives
below the poverty line and 40% of the hungry live in India, when 46% of India's
children and 55% of women are malnourished, does spending billions of dollars on a
12-day sports event build national pride or is it a matter of national shame?"

One of the outspoken critics of the Games is Mani Shankar Aiyar, former
Indian Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports. In April 2007, Aiyar commented that the
Games are "irrelevant to the common man" and criticized the Indian government for
sanctioning billions of dollars for the Games even though India requires massive
investment in social development programs. In July 2010, he remarked that he would
be "unhappy if the Commonwealth Games are successful".

Indian businessman Azim Premji called the 2010 Commonwealth Games a "drain on
public funds" and said that hosting the high-expense Games in India is not justified
given that the country had more important priorities facing it, such as education,
infrastructure and public health

Environmental Impact
Nearly 400,000 people from three large slum clusters in Delhi have been relocated
since 2004. Gautam Bhan, an Indian urban planner with the University of California-
Berkeley, said that the 2010 Commonwealth Games have resulted in "an
unprecedented increase in the degree, frequency and scale of indiscriminate

43

evictions without proper resettlement. We haven‘t seen [these] levels of evictions in
the last five years since the Emergency."

In response to a Right to Information (RTI) application filed for study and statements
by civil society groups, a report by the Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN) -
an arm of the Habitat International Coalition - detailed the social and environmental
consequences of the event. It stated that no tolerance zones for beggars are
enforced in Delhi, and the city has arbitrarily arrested homeless citizens under the
"Bombay Prevention of Begging Act 1959".

Urban Change
Mitu Sengupta, a professor of politics at Ryerson University, Canada, points out that
there is a ―tradition of using ‗urban spectacles‘ such as the Olympics and World‘s
Fairs to enhance a city‘s global recognition, image and status, and to push through
controversial policy reforms that might otherwise linger in the pending file for years (it
is easier to undercut local opposition under the pressure of a fixed deadline and the
international spotlight).‖ She writes that the reforms involved are often ―the invention
of an affluent, globally connected minority that is relatively detached from local
conditions and the local population.‖ The 2010 Commonwealth Games, she says,
are being used to invigorate an elite-driven program of urban transformation‖ that
centers on privatization, securitization, and the construction of ―monuments to
vanity.‖ Sengupta expands upon this argument in a subsequent article in Z
Magazine Amita Baviskar, a professor of sociology at the Institute of Economic
Growth, University of Delhi, makes a similar argument, on how mega-events, like
the Olympics and Commonwealth Games, are used to advance narrow agendas of
urban reform that cater to the middle class and rich. She focuses on how, in
preparation for the Commonwealth Games, the city's slums were bulldozed in order
to make room for shopping malls and expensive real estate. Writer and activist
Gautam Bhan also draws a connection between the Commonwealth Games and
anti-poor urban development in an article posted on Kafila, an alternative webzine

Sex Slavery and Prostitution Boom
There has been a boom in the number of young girls, mostly from impoverished
parts of India, coming to Delhi after being offered jobs by disguised criminals, only to
be taken prisoner and forced into sex slavery. The number of victims is believed to
be in the hundreds. Many brothels have been running English courses for sex

44

workers and upgrading their facilities in anticipation of a business upturn during the
games. Overseas prostitutes are also expected to come as tourists and ply their
trade. One anti-trafficking NGO has claimed that there are reports of 40,000 women
being brought in from northeastern India alone. A spokesperson said that recruits
from that part of India were favoured because of their lighter skin. It has been
reported that over 3,000 bar girls in Mumbai have stopped going to work; this has
been blamed on an exodus to Delhi for the Commonwealth Games.

Organizational Failure

Organizational
failure

Vigilance-related
Preparation Mass volunteer Poor ticket sales Racism
irregularities and
delays walkout and attendance allegations
Over-Invoicing

Vigilance-Related Irregularities and Over-Invoicing

On 28 July 2010, the Central Vigilance Commission an Indian government body
created to address governmental corruption released a report showing irregularities
in up to 14 CWG projects. As per official reports, total 129 works in 70 organizations
have been inspected. The detailed preliminary findings included the award of work
contracts at higher prices, poor quality assurance and management, and work
contracts awarded to ineligible agencies.

There are also allegations of widespread corruption in various aspects of organising
the games including procurement and awarding contracts for constructing the game
venues. The Commonwealth Games Organising Committee on 5 August 2010
suspended joint director T S Darbari and M Jayachandran following the report of the
three-member panel which was probing the financial irregularities related to the
Queen's Baton Relay.

45

Also, Organising Committee treasurer Anil Khanna resigned from the post in the
wake of allegations that his son's firm had secured a contract for laying synthetic
courts at a tennis stadium. The GlobalPost news agency reports that scandals have
come to light, such as "shadowy off-shore firms, forged emails, inexplicable
payments to bogus companies and inflated bills — for every purchase from toilet
paper to treadmills." Among the alleged corruption and defrauding of the games
budget, toilet paper rolls valued at $2 were costed at $80, $2 soap dispensers at
$60, $98 mirrors at $220, $11,830 altitude training simulators at $250,190

Preparation Delays
In September 2009, CGF Chief Mike Fennell reported that the games were at risk of
falling behind schedule and that it was "reasonable to conclude that the current
situation poses a serious risk to the Commonwealth Games in 2010". A report by
the Indian Government released several months prior found that construction work
on 13 out of the 19 sports venues was behind schedule.

The Chief of the Indian Olympic Association Randhir Singh has also expressed his
concerns regarding the current state of affairs. Singh has called for the revamp of the
Organising Committee commenting that India now has to "retrieve the games".Other
Indian officials have also expressed dismay at the ongoing delays but they have
stated that they are confident that India will successfully host the games and do so
on time.

As the Times of India reports, all CWG projects were to be completed by May 2009
and the last year should have been kept for trial runs. The newspaper further reports
that the first stadium was handed over for trial runs in July 2010 only. To put the
delays in perspective, Beijing National Stadium was completed much ahead of
schedule for the 2008 Summer Olympics, while the venues for 2012 Summer
Olympics in London are scheduled to be delivered one year before the games and
the construction of the venues is on track.

In August 2010, the Cabinet Secretariat took a decision to appoint 10 officers of the
rank of Joint and Additional Secretaries to oversee the progress of the construction
of stadiums. Each officer is allocated a stadium and given the responsibility to
ensure that the work completes in time for the games.

46

Mass Volunteer Walkout
Around 10,000 of the 22,000 selected volunteers quit, less than a week before the
event. This has been blamed on a lack of training for personnel, or dissatisfaction
with assignments. There are reports that some who have quit have not returned their
uniforms.

Poor Ticket Sales and Attendance
The start of the Games saw extremely poor ticket sales, with many venues near
empty.In a press conference, organising chairman Suresh Kalmadi admitted that
there were problems, and blamed empty venues on ticket booths not being set up
outside stadiums.Commonwealth Games chief Mike Fennell admitted that many
venues had been nearly empty on the opening day of the Games, saying "A number
of venues do not have lots of spectators one area which causes us concern". On the
second day of competition, less than 100 people filled the hockey venue–the 19,000-
seat MDC Stadium. Less than 20 people watched the first tennis match of the
tournament in the 5,000-seat tennis stadium, and just 58 fans watched the netball
opening match.

One Indian competitor tried to buy tickets for relatives online, only to be informed by
the website that tickets were sold out. When he arrived to compete, he found the
venue to be empty.

The streets of Delhi were deserted for the cycling road races and walking event.

Racism Allegation
African countries have complained that they are getting second-class treatment from
the Games organizers, in spite of them offering India a hand in the preparation of the
Games. They have alleged that accommodation given to them was inferior
compared to the accommodation provided to the Australian and New Zealand teams.
They went on to state that India was complaining about being victims of racial bias in
the reporting of the Games; while simultaneously perpetrating the same kind of
racism against the African countries

47

Infrastructure Issue

Transport Infrastructure
The Delhi Airport Metro express built by Reliance Infrastructure and CAF
Beasain missed its deadline of 31 July 2010 and the private consortium was fined Rs
11.25 crore

Venues
Less than two weeks before the opening ceremony, Fennell wrote to the Indian
cabinet secretary, urging action in response to the village being "seriously
compromised." He said that though team officials were impressed with the
international zone and main dining area, they were "shocked" by the state of the
accommodation. "The village is the cornerstone of any Games and the athletes
deserve the best possible environment to prepare for their competition.The BBC
published photographs of the village taken two days before 23 September showing
unfinished living quarters.

New Zealand, Canada, Scotland and Northern Ireland have expressed concern
about unlivable conditions. The Times of India newspaper reports that the Scottish
delegation apparently submitted a photograph of a dog defecating on a bed in the
games village. Hooper said that there was "excrement in places it shouldn't be" in
the athletes' quarters and that members of visiting delegations had to help clean up
the unsanitary things. The BBC released images of bathrooms with brown-
colored paan stains on the walls and floor, liquids on the floor, and brown paw prints
on athletes' beds. Lalit Bhanot, the secretary general of the Organising Committee,
rejected the complaint that sanitation was poor by saying that, due to cultural
differences, there are different standards about cleanliness in India and the western
world, a statement for which he was widely ridiculed in Indian and international
media. Bhanot went on to say of the athletes' village that, "This is a world-class
village, probably one of the best ever.

Pakistan also made reservations over the condition of the athletes‘ village and
asked for an alternate accommodation to be made available to its contingent while
preparation was still in progress.

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Problems with functionality of equipment and infrastructure during events
On the first night of swimming, debris landed in the swimming pool, causing delays
ahead of a race. It is believed that part of the ceiling or its paint had fallen off.

Before the last night of swimming finals, the filtration system broke down and the
pool was turbid and murky during the warmup session and the finals, and the pool
has been described as the least clear ever seen for a swimming competition. A
disproportionate number of swimmers fell ill with intestinal complaints, leading to
concerns over the cleanliness and sanitation of the pool. Early suspicions rested on
the quality of water in the swimming pools of the SPM Complex,, but other
competing teams, including South Africa, reported no such illness. Daily water
quality tests were being carried out on the water of the pools, as mandated by the
event standards. Additional tests were ordered after news of the illnesses, but they
also did not find anything amiss. The Australian team's chief doctor, Peter Harcourt,
ruled that the "chances of the [Delhi] pool being the cause of the problem is very
remote" and praised the hygiene and food quality in the Delhi Games Village.He
suggested that it could be a common case of Traveler's diarrhea (locally called Delhi
belly), or the Australian swimmers could have contracted the stomach virus during
their training camp in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. English Olympic and Commonwealth
gold-medalist swimmer Rebecca Adlington said that the water quality was absolutely
fine.

A dog entered the athletics arena.

After the opening ceremony, the ground at the athletics was damaged, and the grass
infield and the track was still being re-laid two hours before competition started

Vandalism in games village by Athletes

Condoms and Toilet Blockages
An Indian newspaper during the games reported that used condoms flushed down
the toilets in the athlete's village had caused some drains to become blocked,
necessitating action by plumbers to clear the pipes.

49

Athletes under Investigation for Trashing Apartments
Australian athletes have been accused of vandalizing the towers of the athletes'
village they were staying in by breaking furniture and electrical fittings. Delhi Police
did not press the case after the Organizing Committee refused to file a complaint
while Indian external affairs minister SM Krishna dismissed it as a one-off incident.

A washing machine was hurled from the eighth floor of the same tower. Nobody on
the ground was hit, but it is unclear who the culprit was. Indian newspapers have
reported that the Australian Commonwealth Games Authority agreed to pay for the
damages and have apologized for the incident. The Australian High Commissioner
rejected the claim, stating that the incident was the result of partying and
celebrations. Later comments by Australian officials have contradicted claims by Lalit
Bhanot that they had admitted responsibility. Perry Crosswhite said that it was still
unclear if athletes from other nations present in the tower at the time had been
responsible

Safety & Security Concern
Infrastructural compromise

On 21 September 2010, a footbridge under construction for the Games near the
Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium collapsed, injuring at least 23 people, mainly workers,
underscoring fears of poor workmanship. Commenting on the incident, CM of Delhi
Sheila Dikshit controversially remarked that the footbridge was only meant for
spectators and not for athletes. Following the collapse, Fennell expressed concern
that conditions at the Games Village, which had "shocked the majority", would
seriously compromise the entire event. The company that was building the foot
bridge, P&R Infra projects, was subsequently blacklisted by the Delhi Government
and was not allowed to get government contracts.

Reportedly, progress was still slow and four or five accommodation towers built
by Emaar at the Games village were unfinished, lacking facilities such as wireless
internet, fitted toilets and plumbing. In addition, rubble, unused masonry and
discarded bricks littered the unfinished gardens. According to sports historian Boria
Majumdar, author of the Sellotape Legacy: Delhi and the Commonwealth Games,
India "may have to pull a miracle.‖ The father of Australian track cyclist Kaarle
McCulloch visited his daughter at the Olympic village. A builder in Australia,
Grahame McCulloch criticized the structural soundness of the village; he said "those
50

buildings are the dodgiest things I have ever seen...so substandard". He told his
daughter not to use the balcony, fearing that it was collapsible.

On 22 September 2010, part of the drop ceiling of the new Commonwealth Games
weightlifting venue in New Delhi collapsed.

Indian bantamweight boxer Akhil Kumar s bed in the Games village collapsed when
he sat on it. "I sat down on my bed to rest but suddenly it gave way. After that I
noticed that part of it has no plywood,‖ he said

On 27 September 2010, a South African athlete reported that a snake was present in
his room in the Games Village. A day earlier, animal authorities had to be called in to
evacuate a king cobra from the tennis venue.

On 7 October, a large scoreboard crashed to the ground at the rugby venue when a
supporting chain snapped. The games however were due to start a week later so no
major repercussions were experienced.

Terror threats

Following the 2008 Mumbai attacks, some athletes and their representative bodies
expressed security fears during the games. In April 2010, during the Indian Premier
League, two low intensity bombs went off outside the stadium in Bangalore. Although
there were no casualties, this postponed the start of the game by an hour. Following
this attack, foreign cricketers like Kevin Pietersen expressed fears for their safety
and questions were raised regarding the safety of athletes during the
Commonwealth Games [2]. The UK and Canada also warned about potential attacks
on commercial targets in Delhi ahead of the games.

Jama Masjid incident

Main article: 2010 Jama Masjid attack

On 19 September 2010, unknown gunmen on a motorbike opened fire with an
automatic pistol on a tourist bus outside the Jama Masjid mosque in Delhi. The
attacks, which came a fortnight before the start of the games, injured two Taiwanese
tourists Two hours later, a Maruti car exploded in the vicinity, reportedly from a
deliberate low-intensity pressure cooker bomb which had been assembled inside. No
fatalities or major damages were reported. The incidents, which were purportedly
claimed by the Indian Mujahideen, provoked fears about lack of security in the city

51

for the upcoming games. However, police in Delhi initially denied the role of any
organised terror group and instead blamed the attacks on "disgruntled youths and
local criminal gangs." Officials suggested that a possible motive of the strike was to
instill fear in people ahead of the Commonwealth Games.

Fear of dengue outbreak

The heaviest monsoon rains in 15 years, along with large quantities of standing
water on CWG construction sites as well as in tanks and ponds, raised concerns
over increased levels of mosquito-borne disease in Delhi. In the run-up to the games
it was reported that 65-70 cases of dengue fever were being diagnosed each day in
the city, with the number of cases "likely to hit the 3,000 mark" by the opening on 3
October.

Illness

Many swimmers were reported to have fallen ill. Initially, concerns were raised over
the quality of water in the swimming pools of the SPM Complex . It was said that
more than 20 percent of the English team's swimmers — about eight to 10
competitors — had been struck down with a stomach virus. The Australian team also
reported that at least six of its swimmers had been sick, including Andrew
Lauterstein, who had to withdraw from the 50-meter butterfly. Commonwealth
Games Federation president Mike Fennell said officials would conduct tests to make
sure the pools were not the source of the illness. "If there is something unsafe, you
cannot swim in that water. It is a matter we have to deal with a great deal of
urgency," he said.

However, other competing teams, including South Africa, reported no such
illness. Daily water quality tests were being carried out on the water of the pools, as
mandated by the event standards. Additional tests were ordered after news of the
illnesses, but they also did not find anything amiss. The Australian team's chief
doctor, Peter Harcourt, ruled that the "chances of the [Delhi] pool being the cause of
the problem is very remote" and praised the hygiene and food quality in the Delhi
Games Village. He suggested that it could be a common case of Traveler's
diarrhea (locally called Delhi belly), or the Australian swimmers could have
contracted the stomach virus during their training camp in Kuala Lumpur,

52

Malaysia. English Olympic and Commonwealth gold-medalist swimmer Rebecca
Adlington said that the water quality was absolutely fine.

Sporting Controversy
Doping
Prior to the Games, four wrestlers, a shot-putter and two swimmers who were all part
of India's Games squad tested positive for methylhexaneamine. Four others, who
were not picked for the Games in the Indian capital, also failed drug tests conducted
at the various training camps across the country.

Oludamola Osayomi of Nigeria won the women's 100 metre sprint event. On 11
October 2010 it was reported that Osayomi had tested positive for a "banned
substance" which was later revealed to be the stimulant methylhexaneamine.
Another Nigerian athlete, hurdler Samuel Okon who placed sixth in the 110 metres
hurdles, was reported to have tested positive for the same drug.

In July 2011, three of the four women from India's gold-medal winning 400 metre-
relay team tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Two of the racers, Sini
Jose and Jauna Murmu tested positive for the anabolic steroid methandienone
and Tiana Mary Thomas tested positiv for epi-methandienone.

Archery
In the archery event England criticised the crowds behaviour, but Williamson (the
silver medallist) praised the crowd. Though earlier reports said that the team was
upset that during the women‘s recurve event the crowd chanted loudly during the
final shots. Claiming that the noise distracted the archers. Amy Oliver had
complained about the chanting of "Come on India" as she took her shots. adding
"The crowd was not good. They were pretty loud…" In an action condemned in
the Indian media , an English archery official allegedly abused an Indian coach,
telling him to "f*** off." The comment came after the Indian team registered a one-
point win over England to claim the gold medal. The Indian archery head coach,
Limba Ram, walked over to shake hands with officials of the rival team. In response,
an English official showed his elbow in a gesture before uttering the remarks.
Britain's archery team leader said she was unaware of the incident, "You must find
out whether the person was one among us. If he was not wearing a red jersey, he
would not be part of the side. I will speak to the Indian coach about it." Limba replied

53

that he failed to identify the person, as he had chosen to ignore the one-off
incident. There have also been accusations that Limba Ram was called a monkey on
two different occasions by an English official.

Boxing
During the weigh-in for the boxing competition the scales were giving inaccurate
readings with athletes recording higher body weights on the official scales. The
scales were deemed to be broken and the weigh-in was delayed 24 hours to find and
calibrate new scales. The initial wrong measurements led to angry shouting between
coaches, athletes and organisers. During the boxing competition there have been
claims made by various teams including England andBotswana that jabs were not
being scored by judges. This was attributed to the removal of a white scoring zone
placed on the boxers gloves which is usually present in amateur boxing events. The
BBC commentating team also claimed there to be a bias in judges scores towards
Indian competitors.

Cycling
During the final of the Men‘s Keirin , Malaysian Azizulhasni Awang was disqualified
for aggressive interference when he forced his way past two competitors. Race
winner Josiah Ng said he was "mystified" over Awang's disqualification. In the semi-
final round of the keirin , Australia's Shane Perkins was disqualified for dangerous
riding with the official reason not being made clear. Perkins subsequently won the
classification race and was described by Chris Boardman from the BBC to "have
aimed an angry V-sign at officials"; he gestured to the judges with his index and
middle finger held together. No subsequent action was taken against Perkins who
later said, "the officials need to go back to school", referencing poor decisions he felt
had been made in the sprint and keirin events.

Swimming
On another occasion, South African swimmer Roland Schoeman came under
criticism when he referred to the crowd at the swimming as "going on like monkeys"
in a post-race poolside interview. Schoeman's remarks came after he narrowly
avoided being disqualified as he and England's Simon Burnett fell in at the start of
the 50m freestyle when distracted by crowd noise. The swimming has been
persistently affected by Indian spectators ignoring etiquette and shouting out while

54

the competitors were preparing for the start. His comment was regarded as possibly
being a racial ethnic slur, although he later said that the word was commonly used in
South Africa to refer to mischievous behaviour. At an official press conference,
organising committee secretary-general Lalit Bhanot took the complaints about
monkeys literally. Not being aware of the complaints, Bhanot felt Delhi's wildlife was
at issue: "We know especially at the swimming pool there are a lot of monkeys and
we have made efforts to keep them away from the swimming pool.‖

Wrestling
Australian wrestler Hassene Fkiri was ejected from the 96 kg Greco-Roman
competition and stripped of the silver medal after making an obscene gesture at the
international FILA judges during the final. According to an Australian official, Fkiri
was furious at his Indian rival Anil Kumar, who he accused of breaking the rules a
number of times in the first period by holding Fkiri around the neck and head with
two hands. The Australian received his first warning after he made a comment to the
referee as he walked off the mat at the end of the two-minute period; when Kumar
repeated the same move in the next round, Fkiri headbutted him and was issued a
second warning. He then proceeded to swing his arms uncontrollably afterwards,
which resulted in his third warning and eventual disqualification. After losing, Fkiri
refused to shake hands with the victor.

Kalmadi: A Culprit or Victim?

He might be one of the responsible people, who now, in this situation being on the
interface, can be targeted by everyone for the failure of common wealth games. But
he alone cannot be the real culprit. The biggest problem, in any government
ventures that take place in India, is the terrible structure upon which those ventures
are planned. The terrible structure includes the immense possibilities of corruption
(then whether it is mafiaism in the transport, traffic, roads, MCD... just endless, not to
mention how much money has already been eaten up in the name of CWG ) . They
always want to make a structure without cleaning up the older and known problems.
The people employed in the government bodies don't want to work. They know
nobody can remove them, no matter they work or not. Additionally casteism and vote
bank groups include such problems. All this was started by the government so as

55

grab the chair. But now it has become such a virus, that it badly plagues the whole
system from head to toe.

Kalmadi as CWG chief: Who is the culprit UPA or NDA?

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) indicted the Prime Minister Office
(PMO) over Suresh Kalmadi's appointment as CWG chief. But the PMO has
engaged in a blame game when it brought NDA's name in the picture. The PMO
claimed that according to an official agreement with the Commonwealth Games
Federation in 2003, the president of the Indian Olympics Association (IOA) will be
the chief of organizing committee (OC).

The agreement was signed by the NDA government led by the then Prime Minister
Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Washing its hands completely from the disputed issue, the
PMO claimed that it had no role in appointing Kalmadi as the OC chief in 2004.
Kalmadi was the IOA president at that time.

Political scenario during CWG Scams:

There was political upheaval and resentment among common public which was well
reflected in various meetings which were called on frequent basis during that time.

Eg on 6 august 2011,The Congress core committee met to discuss the political
situation, including the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report that has
indicted the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and the Delhi government for irregularities
in the Commonwealth Games. The meeting was being held at Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh's 7, Race Course Road residence, the sources added. Besides
Manmohan Singh, the meeting was being attended by Finance Minister Pranab
Mukherjee, Defense Minister A.K. Antony, Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel,
party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi and other leaders.

The issue has affected congress deeply as even during the Anna Hazare movement
time, congress is being attacked by mentioning CWG scams. Eg : BJP leader
Rajnath Singh had said the Congress chief is silent on 2G, CWG and other scams
plaguing the UPA government and only making statements against social activist
Anna Hazare.

56

"Gandhi says nothing on 2G, CWG and other scams, while discharges her duties
merely by uttering some words against Hazare," Singh had told reporters. During the
various early parliamentary sessions held, BJP questioned on the role of Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh himself since the circumstances under which Kalmadi
managed to have a free run of the Games preparations go to the heart of its
allegation that the Pune MP could not have commandeered the mega sports event
without the PMO's indulgence. Likewise, the debate gave the BJP enough elbow
room to also target Dikshit for her role in the scam; something that the Congress
wished to avoid on the ground that parliament could discuss CAG's findings only
after they had been scrutinized by the PAC.

In various other instances of allegation to congress or targeting Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh, former Sports Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar also dragged Home
Minister P Chidambaram's name for failure to check the Commonwealth Games
scam.
Mani Shankar Aiyar hit out at Chidambaram for not acting on the basis of his
complaints against wasteful expenditure in the organization of the games.
"My letters of complaint were neither acknowledged nor acted upon by Mr
Chidambaram who was the finance minister till 2007," Aiyar told CNN-IBN.
CNN-IBN has copies of letters written by Mani Shankar Aiyar, Sunil Dutt and MS Gill
to the Prime Minister raising questions about the manner in which money was being
spent on the Commonwealth Games.
"Prithviraj Chavan, who was a minister in the PMO, was the one who initially alerted
me that I should be careful about releasing funds for CWG," Aiyar told CNN IBN.
"The present Chief Election Commissioner SY Qureshi, who was my secretary in the
sports ministry, also shared my concerns against wasteful expenditure in CWG," he
added.
The Prime Minister had remarked at his interaction with editors that Mani Shankar
Aiyar was ideologically opposed to the CWG.

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Effect on Brand Image of India
It has affected the image of India adversely. Firstly, there were questions on India
hosting CWG when large population of it falls below poverty line and with the deep
rooted corruption done in its organising it has questioned the integrity, ethics and
portrayed a poor image of India world-wide.
Climatic change like global warming is causing an agricultural crisis for the peasants
all over the country, worsening their conditions which, in turn, is leading to inflation in
the economy, energy resources are getting depleted, unskilled and poor people are
forced to get involved in unorganized employment with least possible wages and
also issues related to skilled and literate unemployed…but no one really cared,
India was too busy with Commonwealth Games, Which has back fired in all terms.
India‘s present goal should be the development of human resources, dealing with
poverty and creating a healthy, wealthy and literate India. As a result of the
approaching Commonwealth Games, India, especially Delhi underwent a complete
makeover where the infrastructure was concerned. Lavish five-star hotels, better
flyovers, etc, were being constructed. Better buses were seen running on the roads
of Delhi. Why all this? Just to show that India is on its way to become a developed
nation soon? But it couldn‘t hide those shabby and disguised slums behind the
shimmering and glamorous construction and even showed the inherent reality of
corruption. Eg: Liquid Soap Dispensers rented for Rs 9,379 a piece or $206,
Operating Expenses escalating from Rs 399 crore in December 2002 to Rs 1,628
crore finally, Medical equipment including tread mills have been bought or rented at
6-7 times their original price, Allegations that funds meant for India's most deprived
sections - the SC/ST - have been diverted to the games funds. Stealing from the
poor to fund the elite's luxuries.
It has conveyed messaged that main aim behind organizing the games were to gain
money by officials in name of games preparation which were awful as reflected in
various instances Eg :The newly built shooting range at the Siri Fort area collapsed
after one heavy shower, The foot over bridge adjacent to the main venue of the
Commonwealth Games collapsed while being erected, injuring 27 workers who were
dumped into a tow away truck to a municipal hospital and dished out a
compensation of measly Rs 50,000 ($1097) for broken skulls and multiple fractures,
Many of the games venues leaked during the monsoon and roofs of some collapsed,
The Commonwealth Games village, the place where athletes from participating

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countries were put up is infested with dog poo, snakes, clogged toilets, and
unfinished work.

This all presented a poor image of India not only in terms of corruption but also
affected its image of being seen as a tourist attraction.

CAG Audit Report Key Points
There was notable discrepancy in the bailout package given by DDA to the
developer of games village. Scope of audit report included: overall planning and
development, venue development, games village, city infrastructure projects,
organization of the games, preparation of Indian teams, media, others. It showed
that flaws made from the starting:

Proposal was made without underwriting a cap on government liability and
guarantee was given not only from organising committee but also from government
of India, the games thus became the property of GOI, and not only of OC. Whereas
Bid from Hamilton, Canada involved deficit guarantee only from Hamilton city council
not from government of Canada.

There were multiple committees and as the guarantee was given by GOI, there
should have been proper government control in the management which was not
done.

Bid document envisaged Organising committee (OC) as a government owned
registered society but OC was ultimately set up as a non government society with
Shri Suresh Kalmadi, as chairman of OCEB. This was done with a chronological
events starting with a document titled ― updated bid ― which was illegal as contract
has been already awarded to Delhi.

There was no accountability to government despite of funding and guarantee by the
same. There was lack of clear governance structure and various ad-hoc committees
were created, disbanded and re-constituted at the different point of time leading to all
confusion and complete diffusion of accountability.

There was no single clear focused budget, which kept on increasing further and
further. There were numerous instances of contract being not taking taxation, legal
planning into account. There was not any proper documentation of sequence of

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award of contract and which were liabilities pending.Numerous contracts were given
on nomination basis to even not eligible vendors.

Suggestions & Recommendations

The contagious disease of scams demands perfect healing and a thorough clean-up.
Implementation of The Santhanam Committee recommendations:

The Santhanam Committee emphasized four major causes of corruption:

Administrative delays

Review of existing procedures and practices to find out the points at which
delay occurs and device suitable steps to minimize the delay

Prescribe definite time-limits for dealing with receipts, files etc., which should
be strictly enforced

Government taking upon themselves more than what they can manage by
way of regulatory functions.

Each Ministry/Department should undertake a review of the regulatory
functions which are its responsibility, with a view to see whether all of them
are strictly necessary and whether the manner of discharge of these functions
and of the exercise of powers of control are capable of improvement

Scope for personal discretion in the exercise of powers vested in different
categories of government servants.

Adequate methods of control should be devised over exercise of discretion.

The right to act according to discretion does not mean right to act arbitrarily.

The fairness of the method by which the discretionary decision was arrived at
may certainly be looked into

Cumbersome procedures of dealing with various matters which are of
importance of citizens in their day to day affairs.

Citizens should be educated properly with regard to the procedures of dealing
with various matters. They should also be provided with an easy access to

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administration at various levels without the need for the intervention of touts and
intermediaries

Conclusion
While nobody will officially say this, we all know why costs have bloated and
stadiums are collapsing. Officials and politicians make money on bribes from
contractors, who win bids at the ―lowest‖ price and then earn super profits by
compromising on quality. Then they make more money citing over-runs and repairs.
Material suppliers hoard construction materials and make a killing as we desperately
race to the deadline.

But nobody will be indicted or arrested or tried. That is the way it works – too many
important people are making too much money.

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2G SCAM

2G Timeline
May 16, 2007: A Raja Becomes Telecom Minister

NEW DELHI: In significant changes after the abrupt exit of Dayanidhi Maran from the
Cabinet, senior DMK leader A Raja will now handle IT and communications after
shedding charge of environment and forests. The environment and forests portfolio
will be with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The somewhat intriguing aspect of the change is that DMK chief M Karunanidhi has
not nominated a replacement for Raja in the forests and environment ministry.
Instead, another DMK nominee, M Reghupathy, who was MoS in the home ministry,
will be moved at the same designation to environment and forests.
Reghupathy will be replaced by DMK's V Radhika Selvi in home ministry. The
changes are seen to be a matter of DMK rearranging its furniture, but the absence of
a minister in the environment and forests ministry may indicate that Karunanidhi has
yet to decide who to nominate. Interestingly, Radhika's induction was announced by
a Tamil Nadu government press release which said that she would be sworn in on
May 18.
The likely induction of a member of the Karunanidhi clan, his daughter Kanimozhi, to
politics by way of a RS seat, has resulted in speculation that she may well be made
a minister.
Aug, 2007: Process of allotment of 2G spectrum for telecom along with Universal Access
Service (UAS) Licences initiated by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT)

Sept 25, 2007: Telecom Ministry issues press note fixing deadline for application as
October 1, 2007

Oct 11, 2007: DoT gets 575 applications for mobile licenses

At the final count, 46 companies have managed to log in a staggering 575
applications for UAS (mobile) licenses with the DoT. This translates into an average
of 26 applications for each of the 22 telecom service areas.
The frenzy for licenses is fuelled by the fact that spectrum — a precious and scarce
national resource for telecom services — comes along with the license at a
throwaway price of Rs 1,660 crore.

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The excitement only grew after TRAI's August 28 recommendations on license
reforms and spectrum allocation ruled out auctions for 2G spectrums in the 800, 900
and 1800 bands. Almost 80% of the total applications received by DoT (30
companies with 461 applications) came in after this.
Unable to stem the tide, the DoT finally, on September 24, said its doors would close
for UASL applications on October 1. However, roughly 20 companies still managed
to place applications in the four working days following the announcement.
According to the DoT's final list, 15 companies have applied for pan-India licenses,
while four have applied for between 20 and 21 licenses.
The UP (West) circle leads the tally with 29 applications, followed by Orissa and
Rajasthan with 28 each and Tamil Nadu, North East, J&K, Haryana, Gujarat and
Assam with 27 each. Even Himachal Pradesh and Bihar both C category circles
have received 23 and 24 applications respectively. Himachal Pradesh with 23 is the
least in demand.
The numbers are perplexing, considering each pan-India green field operation
requires a minimum investment of Rs 25,000 crore within the first three years to
mount any credible competition for entrenched players.
Surprisingly, despite the obvious opportunism on display, Trai and now even telecom
minister, A Raja, are reluctant to nudge the industry towards paying the real value of
spectrum.
The Rs 1,660 crore offer is a price linked to an auction for the 4th mobile license held
in mid-2001 when India's subscriber base was four million and the overall target less
than 100 million.
The stakes are far higher today, with 200 million subscribers and a subscriber target
of 500 million by 2011, followed by a slowdown that will peak at nearly 750 million
subscribers by 2017. Strangely, TRAI has shied away from prescribing auctions
despite admitting in its August 28, 2007 (section 2.73) recommendations that the
current entry fee is linked to a 2001 transaction and recognizing the need to
rediscover its present value.
The ball is now squarely in the Department of Telecom's court. If sanity does not
rule, three companies are set to strike gold by getting spectrum worth Rs 15,000
crore or more for a song.

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Nov 2, 2007: The Prime Minister writes to Raja directing him to ensure allotment of 2G
spectrum in a fair and transparent manner and to ensure that licence fee was properly
revised. Raja writes back to the Prime Minister rejecting many of his recommendations

Nov 22, 2007: Finance Ministry writes to DoT raising concerns over the procedure adopted
by it. Demand for review rejected

Jan 10, 2008: DoT decides to issue licences on first-come-first-serve basis, preponing the
cut-off date to September 25, from October 1, 2007. Later on the same day, DoT posted an
announcement on its website saying those who apply between 3.30 pm and 4.30 pm
would be issued licences in accordance with the said policy

Nov 12, 2008: Spectrum Allocation Policy - HC seeks govt response

The Delhi High Court today sought a response from the Centre on a petition
challenging its first- come-first-served procedure adopted in spectrum allocation.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice S Muralidhar asked the
government to file its response within three weeks and posted the matter to
December 10 for hearing.
The petition had challenged the Centre's policy of allocating 2G spectrum and
alleged it had caused a loss of crores of rupees to the exchequer.
The PIL alleged that the procedure followed by the government was non-transparent,
and was intended for the benefit of some private players in the telecom industry.
"The telecom ministry's deliberate inaction on the recommendations of the finance
ministry, Prime Minister's Office and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has
benefited private parties at the expense of public exchequer," individual petitioner
Arvind Gupta said.
He also referred to an earlier judgment of the High Court delivered in 1993 by which
the court had said that "first-come-first-served" policy is unreasonable and unfair.
"The basis of first-come-first- served for allotment of time slots on satellite channels
is arbitrary. It is unreasonable, unjust and unfair," Gupta said quoting the High Court
judgment.

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He questioned the government's intention of not following a competitive bidding
procedure.
"The proximity of real estate developers to corridors of the Department of Telecom
has enabled even real estate developers to overnight turn into telecom
entrepreneurs.
Indian real estate developers and infrastructure promoters have also become Indian
telecom players," Gupta alleged in his petition.

Sept 24, 2009: Etisalat buys stake in Swan Telecom

NEW DELHI: Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat), largest operator
in the Arab world, on Tuesday said it has signed a deal to acquire 45 per cent stake
in recently-licensed Indian telecom firm Swan Telecom Private Limited (Swan
Telecom) for $900 million.
Swan Telecom, controlled by Mumbai-based real estate and hospitality business
group Dynamix Balwas (DB) Group, holds universal access service (UASL) licenses
in 13 telecom circles across India, while it is in the process of acquiring UASL
licenses in an additional two telecom service areas. Swan Telecom is likely to start
its operations in the first quarter of the next financial year.
Commenting on the transaction, Mohammad Hassan Omran, Chairman of the UAE
headquartered Etisalat, said: ―Our entry in India, one of the largest and fastest
growing mobile markets in the world today, marks an acceleration of our expansion
strategy and brings to us an opportunity which matches the scale of our ambitions.
We are truly excited by the partnership with the DB Group and the prospect of
building Swan Telecom into a leading telecom operator, emulating the successes we
have achieved in similar situations elsewhere.‖
Etisalat operates in 16 countries across Asia, the Middle East and Africa, servicing
over 6.4-crore customers.
In a joint statement, DB Group‘s Chairman Vinod Goenka and its Managing Director
Shahid Balwa said: ―We believe that with Etisalat‘s operational and commercial
expertise and with our knowledge of the Indian market, Swan Telecom has the
potential to become a leading force in Indian telecommunications."

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May 4, 2009: An NGO Telecom Watchdog files complaint to the Central Vigilance
Commission (CVC) on the illegalities in the spectrum allocation to Loop Telecom

May 19, 2009: Another complaint was filed to the CVC by Arun Agarwal, highlighting grant
of spectrum to Swan Telecom at throwaway prices

2009: CVC directs CBI to investigate thes irregularities in allocation of 2G spectrum

July 1, 2009 : Delhi HC verdict on telecom licence cut-off date puts Trai in a tight spot

The Delhi High Court‘s judgment striking down as illegal the advancement of cut-off
date for licence eligibility in 2007 by the telecom minister A Raja has put Trai in a fix.
This is because the stakeholders are likely to raise eyebrows on the Telecom
Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) in the three-day consultative process, which
begins on Monday.
One of the key issues to be decided through the consultative process is whether
telecom licences should be given to more players or not. Analysts maintain that with
the High Court ruling declaring the cut-off date as illegal, the way for 16 companies,
including the petitioner S Tel and US telecom major AT&T to be given licences. In
this backdrop, Trai should either drop the issue from its agenda or first seek a
clarification from the court.
―Questions are bound to be raised on the legality of the whole exercise since the
division bench of the High Court has struck the advancement of the cut-off date as
illegal. The government has no choice but to grant licences to the balance applicants
of 16 companies. In such circumstances, how can TRAI ponder whether the balance
applications should be processed or not?‖ asked an industry analyst.
The reference of the matter by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to the
TRAI in August was controversial since the latter had earlier given an undertaking to
the court that the balance applications have not been rejected but are on waitlist and
would be processed subsequently. In fact, the CBI is already enquiring why the DoT
went back on its undertaking to the court and sought TRAI view.
As reported by FE earlier, the TRAI had recommended in August 2007 that the
government could continue with the policy of having unlimited number of operators
per circle. However, seeing a deluge of applications, communications and IT minister
A Raja put a temporary cap that only the applications received by October 1, 2007

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would be processed. However, on January 10, 2008, through a controversial press
note, the DoT advanced the cut-off date to September 25, 2007.
This benefited eight companies that were awarded licenses in January 2008. Of
them, Unitech Wireless and Swan Telecom have since sold stakes to foreign
telecom majors at huge valuations. The arbitrary advancement left the applications
of 16 companies, including that of AT&T of US in limbo. One of the aggrieved
companies, S Tel had moved court challenging the DoT‘s move. The Delhi High
Court‘s single bench had struck the DoT‘s move illegal in July last year. However,
the DoT had appealed to the division bench of the court, which dismissed its plea on
November 24.

Oct 21, 2009: Iregularities in spectrum allocation? CBI searches DoT office

NEW DELHI: The CBI on Thursday searched offices of the Department of Telecom
in connection with alleged irregularities in allocation of 2G spectrum to some of the
new players.
CBI sources said a team of its sleuths were conducting searches at the Sanchar
Bhawan here after registering a case in this connection last evening.
The sources said that all records pertaining to the allocation of spectrum to new
players in January 2008 will be taken to see if there were irregularities in the
process.
None of the DoT official was available for comments. In 2008, eight new players
were given licences along with bundled 4.4 MHz spectrum to start mobile services.
The telecom ministry had come under attack for doling out spectrum very cheap
compared to its actual market value.
CVC had recommended a CBI probe into the procedures followed for selecting
companies for giving 2G spectrum. Eyebrows were raised when two of the new
players -- Unitech Wireless Services and Swan Telecom -- sold part of their stake at
huge premium within days of getting the licences.
The government had given telecom licence along with start up spectrum at Rs 1,651
crore for pan-Indian services.

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Oct 23, 2009: CBI raids DoT offices over spectrum row

In an unprecedented move, the CBI on Thursday raided the offices of the
Department of Telecom (DoT), alleging criminal conspiracy between DoT officials
and private firms in the allotment of 2G spectrum.
TOI was the first to report the unusual twists and turns in DoT's decision-making
process in the matter, and closely followed the sequence of events from July 2007 --
when the rush for new telecom licences began -- to January 2008, when spectrum
was allocated to the new entrants -- right up till November 2008, as the controversy
snowballed.
CBI officials said a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act had been registered
against unidentified DoT officials and "private persons" before the raids were carried
out in the Wireless Planning Cell (WPC) and in the office of the Deputy Director
General (Access Services) at Sanchar Bhawan.
According to the agency, all records pertaining to the allocation of spectrum to new
entrants in January 2008 are being examined to ascertain whether or not there was
any irregularity in the process.
It is learnt that AK Srivastav, DDG Access Services 1; Ashok Chandra, Wireless
Advisor and P K Mittal, DDG Access Services Cell 11, the senior officers in charge of
these divisions, were taken to CBI headquarters for questioning. The CBI raid started
at 10am and finished at around 6pm.
The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) had earlier asked CBI to probe alleged
irregularities in the award of Unified Excess Services Licenses to private companies
and the resultant loss of Rs 22,000 crore to the government.
"As per information received, there was criminal conspiracy between certain officials
of DoT and private firms in order to award licences to these companies by putting a
cap on the number of applicants against recommendations of the Telecom
Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and by awarding licences to private companies
on first-come-first-serve basis on the rates of 2001 without any competitive bidding,"
said a senior CBI official.
The CVC had asked CBI to investigate the identities of all beneficiaries in two
companies that had bought stakes in Swan Telecom and Unitech Wireless Services.
The two licencees had sold their stake even before they rolled out services for which
they had been awarded licences.

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Unitech and Swan sold their equity to Telenor and Etisalat, respectively, at roughly
Rs 9,000 to Rs 10,000 crore each -- or six to eight times the price at which they had
received spectrum from the government.
Sources said though there was no quantification done on what was the loss to the
government on this account, a rough estimate based on what these telecom
companies earned by offloading their stake could be anywhere between Rs 20,000
crore and Rs 22,000 crore.
However, industry watchers claim that the extent of the loss to the exchequer could
be as high as Rs 50,000 crore. They point out that DoT gave away 2G spectrum to
120 licencees at roughly Rs 9,000 crore when the market value was probably closer
to Rs 60,000 crore.
DoT chose to follow a first-come-first-served (FCFS) process to handpick companies
though it could easily have chosen a global auction for 2G spectrum, as has now
been prescribed for 3G. The refusal to hold auctions when demand for spectrum far
outweighed its supply marked a departure from the policy of auctioning 2G spectrum
till 2001.
Telecom minister A Raja had argued that he merely followed TRAI's
recommendations. However, TRAI vehemently denied making any such
recommendations. Former TRAI chairman N Misra had clarified on many occasions,
including in a letter to DoT, that his recommendations should be read in their totality.
He had accused the government of cherry picking portions of TRAI's
recommendations rather than following them as a whole. All these developments
were reported in TOI.
The previous DoT secretary, D S Mathur, was asked to sign the new licences in
2007, but refused to do so till he retired in December 2007. Once he was replaced,
120 licences were subsequently awarded in January 2008.
When criticised by the media and the opposition, Raja said his predecessors,
Dayanadhi Maran and Arun Shourie, had followed the same FCFS policy. The big
difference, however, was that there was no queue for spectrum during Shourie and
Maran's tenure. At the time that Raja chose to give away spectrum to a select 120
companies, there were already 575 applications waiting and more could have
followed.

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Raja was also accused of abruptly announcing a cutoff date and favoring only those
companies that had come in on or before September 25, 2007, even though the
government had officially asked for applications till October 1, 2007.
The manner in which spectrum was allocated to companies within the FCFS norm
also came under attack as there was no clarity whether winners were being selected
based on date of application or date of licence fee payment.

Nov 16, 2009: CBI seeks details of tapped conversation of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia to
find out involvement of middlemen in the grant of spectrum to telecom companies

Aug 18, 2010: HC refuses to direct the Prime Minister to decide on a complaint by Janata
Party chief Swamy seeking sanction to prosecute Raja for his involvement in 2G scam

The Delhi High Court on August 28th, 2010 refused to direct the Prime Minister to
take a decision on a complaint seeking his sanction to prosecute Telecom Minister A
Raja for his alleged involvement in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

The court dismissed the plea of Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy seeking its
direction to the Prime Minister to decide on granting sanction against his Cabinet
colleague Raja on a complaint pending before the PMO for the last two years.

The court passed the order after the Centre contended that it was premature to take
a decision on granting sanction against Raja in view of the ongoing investigation by
CBI in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

"In our considered opinion when the matter is being investigated by the CBI and it is
in progress, it is not in fitness of things to pass any order," a bench headed by Chief
Justice DipakMisra said. It also added "We are not inclined to interfere in the matter".

Sept 13, 2010: SC asks government, Raja to reply within 10 days to three petitions filed by
CPIL and others alleging there was aRs 70,000 crore scam in the grant of telecom licences
in 2008

A Bench comprising Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly asked the Centre, Raja,
CBI, Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax Department to file their replies
within 10 days. Advocate PrashantBhushan appearing for Centre for Public Interest
Litigation, a registered civil society body, alleged that the Union government was

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trying to put a lid on the CBI investigation being carried out on the direction of the
Central Vigilance Commission. The other petitioners in the case are Telecom
Watchdog, an NGO, and ParanjoyGuhaThakurtha, a journalist. Bhushan said the
petitioners had filed a plea seeking a thorough court-monitored investigation either
by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) or by a special team of the CBI into the 2G
spectrum allocation scam that has caused the national exchequer an estimated Rs
70,000 crore and led to huge national outrage. ―Simply in terms of the scale of
money that has been swindled, it is easily the biggest scam that this country has
ever seen,‖ the petition said.―A sitting Union Cabinet minister has been found to be
directly involved and tapes of his conversations with corporate middlemen are
available,‖ said the petition.

The judges wanted to know how the CBI was unaware against whom the
investigations were on, despite continuing the process for several months and filing
an FIR against unknown telecom ministry officials.The bench observed: ―Why the
CBI is so uncertain about the charges and the involvement of the Department of
Telecom officials?‖
Sept 24, 2010: Swamy moves SC seeking direction to the PM to sanction prosecution of
Raja.

Former Union minister and Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy on 24 th
September, 2010 moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction to Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh to sanction the initiation of criminial proceedings against
communications minister A Raja in the alleged Rs 70,000-crore 2G spectrum scam.

He alleged that the PM has failed to grant sanction even after enough
unimpeachable evidence was given to initiate prosecution and it is obligatory on his
part to grant the same.

―Corruption is an urgent public issue. The Prime Minister must decide, exercising his
discretion here not as Prime Minister on the aid and advice of the council of
ministers; but on his own,‖ the petition stated.

The Prime Minister is a deciding authority to accord requisite sanction to prosecute
any member of the Union council of ministers under Section 19(1)(c ) of the
Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 read with Article 75(1) of the Constitution of India.

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According to Janta party president, when an application for such sanction to
prosecute for corruption is presented to the Prime Minister, it is the duty of the
deciding authority to apply his mind within a reasonable time either to accord the
sanction or to reject the application.

The government and the CBI have not even after 11 months of probe initiated any
proceedings against Raja despite being well acquainted with the facts and the such
probe ―cannot stand in the way of a concerned citizen who desires to take on the
onus of so prosecuting,‖ the plea said.

Challenging the Delhi High Court judgment that dismissed his plea on the grounds
that ―the investigation by the CBI is in progress and this court had earlier declined to
monitor the same,‖ Swamy also sought permission from the apex court to appear in
person.

Oct 8, 2010: SC asks government to respond to CAG report about the scam

The Supreme Court on Oct 8,2010 asked the government to respond to the CAG
report pointing out largescale irregularities and favoritism allegedly by telecom
minister A Raja in the Rs 70,000-crore 2G spectrum allocation scam in 2008.

A Bench comprising Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly asked solicitor general
Gopal Subramanium to go through the draft report alleging that the ministry of
telecom ignored the advice of the law ministry and the Prime Minister and allotted
the license by favoring "ineligible" companies at the lower rate on first-cum-first basis
by arbitrarily deciding the cut off date.

The Bench posted the matter for October 22 without perusing the status reports filed
by CBI and Enforcement Directorate into the investigations in the case. It returned
the reports filed in sealed covers to both the agencies stating that it will consider
them during the next date of hearing. Raja was represented by senior advocate T R
Andhyarujina who was asked to be supplied with the copy of the CAG report. Earlier,
Subramanium said he would like to allay any apprehension that investigations would
not be fair. "We are bound to conduct fair investigation," he added.

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However, he said it would be premature to say anything at this stage about the final
conclusion of the investigations in which more than one government agencies are
involved.

The solicitor general said FIR relating to the scam was registered against unnamed
persons a year ago and the matter has undergone judicial scrutiny in the Delhi High
Court and the apex court.

He said transcript of the tape involving telephonic conversation between several
persons, including corporate lobbyist Nira Radia and some journalists, have to be
examined as it has a bearing on the allocation of 2G spectrum.

However, advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO which has alleged
financial irregularities by Raja in connivance with certain middlemen including
NiiraRadia, alleged the probe by CBI was not fair as even after the registration of FIR
a year ago, none of the persons has been interrogated or arrested.

He said neither Raja nor Radia has been interrogated or arrested till now despite the
tapped conversation clearly throwing sufficient light on their alleged involvement in
the scam.

Oct 21, 2010: Draft reports of CAG placed before the Supreme Court

Draft reports of the CAG, which pointed out that the scam on 2G spectrum allocation
caused a loss of Rs 1.4 lakh crore to the exchequer, were placed before the
Supreme Court on Oct 21, 2010. The two draft reports were placed by an NGO,
Centre for Public Interest Litigation, which had alleged irregularities in allocation of
spectrum. Parts of the reports were placed on October 8 by the NGO before the
apex court which had asked the Department of Telecom to respond to charges of
large-scale irregularities and favoritism allegedly on telecom minister A Raja.

In the petition, it was alleged that there was corruption of Rs 70,000 crore. The report
had made adverse remarks on the allotment of radio frequencies to Loop Telecom
and Unitech Wiresless. In its application, the NGO has placed on record two recent
CAG draft reports and claimed that the ineligible firms - Loop Telecom and Unitech
Wireless, a group firm of real estate major Unitech - were allotted 2G spectrum.

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The NGO has further contended that the illegal allotment of spectrum has cost the
national exchequer Rs 1.4 lakh crores as per proper audit calculations by CAG.
According to the report, "DoT chose not to abide by its own guidelines and issued
122 licenses without detailed verification of the documents submitted by the
applicants." The NGO further claimed that CAG auditors had on September 20, 2010
wrote to DoT on the issue of license and spectrum to ineligible Loop Telecom.

"The submission of the applications for UAS License for 21 service areas by Loop
Telecom Limited to DOT on 3rd September 2007 with altered MOA without full
disclosure of the factual position was deliberate misrepresentation of the facts and
was done with fraudulent and malafide intentions of obtaining UAS license from
DOT, though they were not eligible to apply for the UAS licenses for this circle on
that date.

Oct 29, 2010: SC pulls up CBI for its tardy progress in the investigations into the scam

The apex court adjourned the matter to November 15, as Solicitor General Gopal
Subramanium was not present at the hearing due to ill health. The Supreme Court is
hearing a petition filed by NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation, Telecom
Watchdog and journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurtha, challenging Delhi High Court‘s
dismissal of their plea seeking a court-monitored probe into the scam by the premier
investigating agency. The latest observations by the apex court has been taken note
of by some Congress leaders, who want Raja, a senior leader of UPA‘s ally DMK, to
step down till the probe is over.

Nov 10, 2010: CAG submits report on 2G spectrum to government stating loss of Rs 1.76
lakh crore to exchequer
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Nov 10, 2010 said it has submitted
to the government the report on the 2G spectrum allotment that is presumed to have
caused a Sources in the know say that the CAG has accused the telecom ministry
for undervaluing 2G spectrum, sold to new players in 2008, and held that the
allotment price was not realistic, which has caused a revenue loss of up to Rs 1,
76,700 crore to the government.

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The report is also believed to have castigated telecom minister A Raja for ignoring
the advice of finance and law ministries on allocation of 2G spectrum to benefit a few
operators. It is also believed to have criticized telecom regulator TRAI for standing as
a helpless spectator when its recommendations were being ignored or misused.
However, no confirmation on CAG's reported comments could be obtained.

The report is believed to have said that the telecom ministry took arbitrary decisions
while allotting 2G spectrum, bundled with licenses in January 2008.

Sources said a copy of the report has been sent to the finance ministry and to the
President. The process usually takes 10-15 days to finalise and then it would be
tabled in Parliament. The month-long winter session of Parliament began on
November 9.

Nine firms were issued licences, bundled with start up of 2G spectrum, in January
2008 at Rs 1,658 crore for pan-India operations. The CAG report said the price at
which the spectrum was alloted in 2008 was based on 2001 prices, which was quite
low and has resulted in a loss to the government exchequer.

The report also said that Raja ignored the advice of the law ministry and Prime
Minister and advanced the cut-off date for giving the Letter of Intent (LoI). The
telecom ministry had, however, hit at the CAG saying the policy decisions cannot be
"assailed" as arbitrary and debunked CAG's assertion that 2G spectrum was
allocated in an arbitrary manner.

CAG has reportedly put the revenue loss to exchequer at up to Rs 1.40 lakh crore, in
addition to another Rs 36,700 crore on allocation of spectrum beyond contractual
limit to existing nine operators.

Nov 11, 2010: DoT files affidavit in SC saying CAG did not have the authority to question
the policy decision as per which licence were issued to new players in 2008

The telecom ministry told the Supreme Court on Nov 11, 2010 that the government
auditor CAG did not have the authority to question the policy decision as per which
licence were issued to new players in 2008. The assertion came within a day of
Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai stating that CAG has submitted its report
on 2G spectrum, which was believed to have indicted the telecom ministry for
favoritism and caused a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer.
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The counter affidavit filed in the apex court on Nov 11, 2010 said that all decisions
with regard to 2G spectrum allocation in 2008 were taken as per government policy
that was being followed by all his predecessors since 1999.

The ministry said that the CAG had similar harsh observations even in 1999 when
the operators were migrated from fixed licence fee to revenue sharing regime. And
the licences along with start-up 2G spectrum were also allocated in 2008 according
to the same policy, ministry officials said. The CAG has submitted its latest report to
the government saying non-auction of 2G spectrum in 2008 may have cost the
exchequer up to Rs 1.40 lakh crore besides over Rs 36,000 crore on account of
additional spectrum to existing players beyond 6.2 Mhz. The officials pointed out that
the additional 2G spectrum beyond 6.2 Mhz was given to the existing players by A
Raja's predecessors free of cost.

Nov 14, 2010: A Raja resigns as Telecom Minister

Yielding to relentless pressure, controversial A Raja resigned as Telecom Minister
after being ordered to do so by his party, DMK, in the wake of allegations that he
caused a loss of Rs.1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer while allocating 2G Spectrum
two years ago.

Raja, the 57-year-old lawyer-politician, who got the coveted portfolio after the exit of
DayanidhiMaran in 2007 and retained it after the May, 2009 elections, drove to
Prime Minister's residence late at night on Nov 14, 2010 to hand in his resignation
after steadfastly refusing to do so for the past few days even as the opposition
paralysed Parliament demanding his ouster. The resignation was submitted after he
returned to Delhi from Chennai where he met the party chief and state Chief Minister
M Karunanidhi twice that day.

The top Congress leadership met in Delhi and discussed the issue anticipating
uproar in Parliament by the opposition which has been demanding his removal.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, party president Sonia Gandhi and senior leaders
Pranab Mukherjee and Ahmad Patel, political secretary to the Congress chief,
attended the meeting amid growing view in the party that Raja's continuance in office
has become untenable and that he must go.

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There were unconfirmed reports that senior leader Pranab Mukherjee had spoken to
Karunanidhi conveying to him that Raja's resignation would be a better option to
avoid any further deadlock in Parliament.

The resignation came ahead of the next day‘s Supreme Court hearing of two
petitions alleging involvement of Raja in the spectrum scam.

Also, the opposition parties had made it clear that they would not allow Parliament to
function if Raja does not step down. The opposition had been demanding removal of
Raja after the government auditor CAG is believed to have indicted the minister for
not distributing 2G Spectrum in a transparent manner resulting in a revenue loss of
over Rs.1.76 lakh crore.

Nov 15, 2010: Kapil Sibal given additional charge of Telecom Ministry

Minister Kapil Sibal was given the additional charge of the telecom ministry by Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh on Nov 15, 2010 which took the portfolio away from DMK
for the time being. Official sources said Sibal will hold the charge of the Ministry held
by A Raja, who resigned on Nov 14, 2010 facing allegations of scam in 2G spectrum
allocation.

The arrangement was seen to be temporary in view of the ongoing Parliament
session when issues related to the ministry were to be handled at the senior level,
particularly at a time when the ministry was facing allegations of corruption of huge
magnitude. By tradition, a reshuffle of the Council of Ministers is not undertaken
during a Parliament session.

Sibal, a renowned lawyer-turned-politician was a week earlier given the additional
charge of Ministries of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, which fell
vacant after incumbent Prithviraj Chavan was made Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

In another decision, V Narayansamy, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, was
given additional charge of Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which also
fell vacant after Chavan's departure.

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Nov 20, 2010: Affidavit on behalf of PM filed in Supreme Court. Rejects charge of inaction
on Swamy’s complaint.

An affadavit on behalf of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was filed with the SC on
Nov 20, 2010, which rejected the charge of inaction on the part of his office in
dealing with the request of sanction for prosecution of former Telecom Minister A.
Raja in the 2G spectrum issue.

In an 11 page affadavit, filed through Director, PMO, V Vidyawati, it was stated that
there was no inaction on the Prt of the PMO on the complaint filed by Janata Party
President SubramaniumSwamy seeking the sanction for prosection of Raja.

The affadavit has given in detail how various letters written by Swamy since Nov 29,
2008 to Oct 5, 2010 have been dealt with by the PM‘s office and advice sought
d=from the Law Ministry.

The Director, who filed the affadavit on behalf of the PM, said she prepared a note
on Feb 9, 2010 stating that ―according to the advice received from the Dept of Legal
affairs, the decision of granting sanction may be determined only after the perusal of
the evidence (oral or documentary) collected by the investigating agency, i.e. CBI
and other materials to be provided by the competent authorities.

On this note, the Joint Secretary suggested that Ministry of Law and Justice could be
requested to send an appropriate response to the petitioner Swamy. This was
approved by the PM on Feb 13, 2010.

The view of the Joint Secretary was endorsed by the Ministry of Law and Justice, the
affidavit said adding that the Law Ministry on February 22, 2010 stated that since it
was only an advisory body to tender a legal advice they were not administratively
concerned with the accord of sanction. The affidavit said that based on Swamy's
March 8, 2010 letter, a request was made to the Secretary DoPT and the
Department of Telecommunication to immediately give the status of the
communication from the Chief Vigilance Commissioner and registration of the case
by the CBI. The note on the response of DoT and DoPT was duly considered and
approved by the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, the affidavit said adding
that PMO asked the DoPT to send an appropriate reply to Swamy which was done
on March 19, 2010. Subsequently in April 2010, the Department of Legal Affairs

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informed that Swamy has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court and written letter to
DoPT with a copy to Prime Minister on March 20, 2010, and later on May 20, June
9, August 30 and October 5 wrote letters addressed to Singh which were sent to
Ministry of Law and Justice.

The affidavit said that on February 8, 2010 the PMO received advice from Law
Ministry, duly approved by the Minister of Law on January 26, 2010 in which it was
stated that "decision to accord sanction of prosecution may be determined only after
the perusal of the evidence (oral or documentary) collected by the investigating
agency i.e. CBI and other materials to be provided by the competent authorities".

It said that the Private Secretary to the Prime Minister had raised a query regarding
the exact point on which the opinion of the Law Ministry was proposed to be sought
after a complaint similar to Swamy was forwarded to the PMO from the President
Secretariat on April 30, 2009. The affidavit said that in response to PMO's May 29,
2009 letter, the Department of Legal Affairs stated on June 8, 2009 stated that they
had called for "input/views from the Ministry of Telecommunication enable them to
examine the matter in the right perspective."

It said since the reply from the Department of Legal Affairs was awaited, it was
proposed that "issues raised by Swamy be examined on the sectoral side" which
was considered at "various levels and approved."

Nov 22, 2010: CBI tells SC it will file charge sheet in the case within three months

The The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Nov 22, 2010 told the Supreme
Court that it will complete investigation and file within three months a charge sheet in
the 2G spectrum allocation case.

The apex court was informed by CBI counsel and senior advocate K. K. Venugopal
that the agency will take two months to complete the investigation and in another
one month, it will arrive at a conclusion and file the charge sheet. Dravida Munnettra
Kazhagam (DMK) leader A. Raja had resigned as telecom minister earlier that month
in the wake of the spectrum scam.

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―We are investigating the offences and for each charge there has to be evidence and
documents. The CAG report is about financial impropriety and not a criminal act,‖
Venugopal told a bench of justice G. S. Singhvi and A. K. Ganguly, adding that only
after the probe it could be said whether ―we have done our work properly or not.‖

He said that the CBI will take two months time to finish the investigation as it was
examining transcripts relating to 5,000 calls (out of which 3,800 have been
analyzed), 6,000 files and 80,000 pages of documents.

All these are being scrutinized, the senior advocate, who was representing the CBI
from that, said. He further said since the matter was being examined by the CBI, the
apex court should not go into the merits of the case. Venugopal said that the NGO,
Central for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), the main petitioner in the case, has
sought monitoring of the investigation by the apex court.

Venugopal said he would like to place two positions in law about the monitoring of
the investigation by the court and this he would do by placing 15 or 16 judgements
before it. Meanwhile, advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for CPIL, maintained
that the court can go into the nature of the investigation as 13 months has lapsed
since the registration of the FIR.

Further, on 9 May, 2009, one Arun Agarwal had filed a complaint regarding Swan
Technology owned by Reliance Infocomm, the shares of which was transferred to
unknown entity, he said.

Bhushan said it has to be found out what happened after the registration of the case
by the CBI as the agency has written a letter to the Income Tax Department following
which the transcript of the alleged conversation between various persons including
corporate lobbyist Nira Radia and others including Raja‘s private secretary R. K.
Chandolia surfaced. Materials are enough to charge Raja and others with criminal
misconduct and abuse of official position which has been established by the CAG
report, Bhushan said.

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Nov 22, 2010: CBI tells SC role of corporate lobbyist Nira Radia would be questioned by it.

The Enforcement Directorate on Nov 22, 2010 questioned corporate lobbyist Nira
Radia for about seven hours regarding financial transactions and shareholding
patterns of her firms as part of its probe into the 2G spectrum allotment scam.

ED Sources said Radia gave a statement in writing running into 20 pages under
Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which gives the
Directorate the power to summon a person for examination and submission of
documents.

Sources said that besides the shareholding patterns in her firms, the ED officials also
queried Radia about the details of her bank accounts and income tax returns. The
questions were based on the information collected by the ED during its probe and
also from documents running into 1,000 pages that Radia had earlier submitted to
the agency.

Emerging from the Directorate's office after questioning, Radia, who is at the centre
of a controversy over certain taped conversations in connection with the spectrum
allocation, told reporters that she was cooperating with the authorities. Official
sources said the questioning of Radia, who reached the ED office at about 9:30 in
the morning, began at 10:30. The questioning ended around 5:30 pm.

The agency had also said it will take two months‘ time to complete the investigation
as it was examining transcripts relating to 5,000 calls (out of which 3,800 have been
analyzed), 6,000 files and 80,000 pages of documents.

Later in a statement, a spokesperson for Vaishnavi Corporate Communications and
NiiraRadia said, "There have been a lot of speculation about my whereabouts and
rumours of my being outside India all this while. I wish to inform that I have been
very much in India all this while."

The statement said: "It is unfortunate that certain sections of the media have decided
to overlook the real issues and instead focused on spreading stories of

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misinformation and malice on myself, Vaishnavi Group and, in effect, on our reputed
client in the telecom sector."

Nov 24, 2010: SC reserves verdict on Swamy’s plea seeking direction to PM for grant of
sanction to prosecute Raja.

The Supreme Court on Nov 24, 2010 reserved its verdict on a plea seeking a
direction to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for grant of sanction to prosecute
former telecom minister A Raja in the 2G spectrum case.

A bench of Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly reserved the verdict after
concluding the hearing on the petition filed by Janata Party President Subramanian
Swmy.

The bench asked the Attorney General G E Vahanvati to place before it the number
of matters relating to sanction pending before the competent authority in various
government departments in one week.

Nov 25, 2010: SC ticks off CBI for not questioning Raja.

The Supreme Court on Nov 25, 2010 came down heavily on the CBI for failing to
question former telecom minster A Raja and telecom secretary in the 2G Spectrum
scandal, saying it was "beating around the bush".

A bench of justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly wondered why the premier
investigating agency failed to question the duo despite the CVC and CAG report
sharply indicting them for their involvement.

Nov 29, 2010: CBI files status report on 2G spectrum scam probe

The CBI on Nov 29, 2010 submitted to the Supreme Court the status report on its
ongoing investigations into the 2G spectrum allocation scam allegedly involving
former telecom minister A. Raja.

The status report was submitted to the apex court registry in a sealed cover. The
apex court, earlier on November 25, had castigated the CBI on why it had not
questioned Mr Raja and the telecom secretary in the case, saying the agency was
"beating around the bush" when "illegality is prima facie evident."

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A bench of justices G.S. Singhvi and A.K. Ganguly during the hearing had lambasted
CBI for failing to examine the former minister and the telecom secretary, saying that
it was the "minimum expected" of it as the criticism had come from CAG, a
Constitutional authority.

CBI had offered to place a status report on Nov 30, 2010 before the court which also
took on record the CAG report placed by Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL)
counsel Prashant Bhushan.

"The CAG reports deserved highest respect. We are on the limited point. CAG under
Constitution has a very important position. It is an authority set up under the
Constitution. If such an authority set up under the constitution gives such a report,
any reasonable person will question the Minister and the Secretary," it had said.

The CAG had estimated a "presumptive loss" of around Rs. 1.76 lakh crore to the
public exchequer due to allocation of spectrum to various allegedly ineligible telecom
operators at throwaway prices.

Nov 30, 2010: SC questions CVC P J Thomas’s moral right to supervise CBI’s probe into 2G
spectrum scam as he himself was Telecom Secretary at that point of time

The Supreme Court on Nov 30, 2010 questioned Chief Vigilance Commissioner P J
Thomas's moral right to supervise CBI's probe into the 2G spectrum scam as he
himself was telecom secretary at the relevant point of time.

The bench, which termed as "mind-boggling" the country's growing corruption, also
sought the Centre's response to preserving tapes relating to corporate lobbyist Nira
Radia's recorded conversations after an apprehension was raised that it could be
destroyed as it exposed the nexus between politicians, bureaucrats and journalists.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, Centre for Public Interest
Litigation (CPIL) which has submitted the recorded conversations before the court,
said the CBI should be directed to place in a sealed cover the original copies of
tapes and questioned the opposition against their disclosure by a noted industrialist -
- an obvious reference to Ratan Tata who had moved the apex court raising certain
objections over the leaks.

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There was also a sudden shift in the stand of government, which contrary to its
earlier strong objection agreed to the apex court monitoring the investigation. This
change in stand comes in the backdrop of the growing clamour for a JPC probe an
issue which had paralaysed Parliament for the past 13 days.

Though Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium tried his best to convince the court
that there was no violation of rules and the government had only displayed
dynamism, the bench minced no words in expressing displeasure at the manner in
which the spectrum was allotted.

While Bhushan was reading purported extracts from the Radia's conversations with
Ratan Tata, MPs, former bureaucrats and journalists, the bench observed, "Not only
we are talking about pollution of the Ganga for the past 28-30 years. This pollution is
mind-boggling. We do not live in a world of illusion. If there is peace, the real world is
in the villages and forests.

Subramanium, who was arguing for the Department of Telecom, also assured the
court that he would respond to the court's query on the issue of CVC after seeking
necessary instruction from the government.

However, senior counsel K K Venugopal appearing for the CBI, citing the Central
Vigilance Act, submitted that there was a provision for allowing one of the vigilance
commissioners to take over the functions of the CVC. This is when a contingency
arises wherein it becomes difficult for the incumbent (CVC) to function for some
reason or other.

Bhushan submitted that he had no objection to such a proposal as Vigilance
Commissioner R Shreekumar, a former DGP from Karnataka, "enjoys a good
reputation". But he insisted that apart from the vigilance commissioner monitoring the
case, the court should appoint another officer with impeccable integrity to ensure a
fair supervision of the investigation.

At this point Bhushan once again raised the issue of Radia's corporate
communication company and said she had employed a former TRAI Chairman

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Pradeep Baijal, who was lobbying in the government department on behalf of her PR
firm as its CEO.

However, the bench later took the name of the former TRAI Chairman and said "by
joining the firm, Baijal has given an illustrious example". Subramanium interrupted
the Bench and said Baijal was a Secretary level IAS officer in the Government and it
is not known "under what circumstances he joined the PR firm of Radia".

Dec 1, 2010: SC directs original tapes containing conversation between corporate lobbyist
Nira Radia and others be handed over to it

The Supreme Court on Dec 1, 2010 directed that the original tapes containing the
conversation between corporate lobbyist Nira Radia and others pertaining to the 2G
spectrum allocation case be handed over to it in a sealed cover.

The direction came from a bench comprising justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly
after government submitted that it has no objection in handing over the complete set
of tapes in the wake of apprehensions that the tapes may be destroyed.

Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium said that he has got instructions that there
was no objection in handing over the tapes and the court can give direction for
preserving them in whatever way it thinks best.

The apex court had on Nov 30, 2010 asked the government to respond to the plea
for preserving the tapes containing conversation between Radia and others relating
to the 2G spectrum scam.

The bench had asked the Solicitor General to take instructions from the authorities
on the plea made by NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL).

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, who had appeared for the NGO, had made the plea
that the tapes prepared by the Director General of Income Tax containing
conversation of Radia and others should be preserved while voicing apprehensions
that the tapes may be tampered with.

Dec 1, 2010: Raja questions CAG findings in the SC.

Former telecom minister A Raja on Dec 1, 2010 questioned in the Supreme Court
the comptroller and auditor general (CAG) finding that the exchequer had suffered a

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loss of Rs1.76 lakh crore in the allocation of second generation mobile telephony
spectrum, terming the figure as "mindboggling and speculative".

Andhyarujina said the principle which has been applied by the CAG in its auditing is
not accepted as standard method of evaluation. The senior advocate further
maintained that before Raja became minister his predecessors Dayanadhi Maran
and Arun Shourie had already granted 52 licences.

Andhyarujina said that whatever has been done by the telecom department was on
the basis of the TRAI recommendations which the CAG cannot override. Further, the
initial part of the CAG report gives out a wrong impression and it cannot be
accepted, he said.

He also said though everything was done on the basis of TRAI recommendation, the
CAG report conveys the impression Raja was responsible for the scam. The senior
advocate said Raja resigned on November 14 in view of the constitutional
responsibility and political compulsions and with the wishes of his party, DMK.

Pointing out that Parliament is not functioning for last 16 days because of the alleged
2G spectrum allocation scam, Andhyrujina said, "It has never happened in the
parliamentary history of the country that there is such a standstill."

Dec 2, 2010: Government places recorded tapes in the SC.

The government on Dec 2, 2010 placed before the Supreme Court in sealed cover
recorded tapes containing the conversations between corporate lobbyist Nira Radia
and others relating to the 2G spectrum allocation case.

While placing the recorded conversation before the bench comprising justices G S
Singhvi and A K Ganguly, Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium said that it is a hard
disc drive directly downloaded from the server which contains the conversations.

However, advocate Prashant Bhushan appearing for the NGO Centre for Public
Interest Litigation (CPIL) said though CBI maintains that there were 5,800
conversations, it has prepared the transcript of only 3,000 such conversations.

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The Supreme Court had on Dec 1, 2010 directed that the original tapes containing
the conversation between Radia and others pertaining to the 2G spectrum allocation
case be handed over to it in a sealed cover.

The direction from the bench had come after the government had submitted that it
has no objection in handing over the complete set of tapes in the wake of
apprehensions that the tapes may be destroyed.

Subramanium had said that he has got instructions that there was no objection in
handing over the tapes and the court can give direction for preserving them in
whatever way it thinks best.

Dec 2, 2010: SC comes down heavily on Raja for bypassing and overruling PM’s advice to
defer allocation of 2G spectrum by a few days.

The Supreme Court on Dec 2, 2010 came down heavily on former telecom minister
A Raja for "bypassing" and even "overruling" Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's
advice to defer the allocation of 2G spectrum by a few days. The apex court also
took strong exception to the tone and tenor of Raja's letter to the Prime Minister,
saying it amounted to showing "disrespect" to the highest authority in the country.

The Bench of justices GS Singhvi and AK Ganguly said Raja had not paid heed to
the Prime Minister's letter asking him to wait for some days before taking any action
on the allocation of spectrum. Resuming hearing on the petition by NGO, Centre for
Public Interest Litigation (CPIL, on the spectrum scam, the court raised questions on
Raja ignoring the Law ministry's advice seeking opinion of the AG as "out of context".

The court made the remarks after noting that the Law Minister has given an opinion
that the matter be referred to the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGOM) for
seeking the opinion of the law officers like the Attorney General and Solicitor
General.

Andhyarujina, who faced a volley of questions, tried to impress upon the Bench that
Raja showed no disrespect to the Prime Minister, who, he said, was entitled to know
everything about the allocation of spectrum. The apex court said Raja should have

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written back to the Law minister when the latter had expressed certain reservations
and there was no reason why he should have written a letter to the Prime Minister.

Dec 8, 2010: SC asks Centre to consider setting up of a special court to try 2G spectrum
scam case

A Bench of Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly said, in view of the magnitude of
the offence, the government should examine the idea of setting up special courts as
otherwise the objective of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Foreign Exchange
Management Act could not be achieved. The court was hearing arguments on a
petition seeking a court-monitored probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
or a Special Investigating Team (SIT) probe into the Rs 1.76 lakh crore scam.
Verdict reserved The court reserved its order on the case. The apex court indicated
that it might monitor the probe and the CBI would be asked to file periodic status
reports. The Bench also asked the CBI to probe the role of State Bank of India,
Corporation Bank, Canara Bank, Allahabad Bank and others, which lent thousands
of crores of rupees to some telecom service providers in the form of bank drafts
before the letter of intent for allocation of spectrum was issued to them by the
Department of Telecommunication in January 2008. Senior advocate K
KVenugopal, who appeared for the CBI, sought time till January 30,2011 to submit a
report as he has to go through the bank data and the time of issuance of drafts.

On the amount of money involved in the 2G scam, the bench observed that there
used to be scam of few crores of rupees in 1990s, but now ―all barriers of our
understanding of finances has been crossed as lakhs of crores of rupees are
involved in them.‘‘ The bench also sought a reply from Solicitor General Gopal
Subramanium on setting up a special court to try offences of huge financial
magnitude. However, Venugopal opposed setting up an SIT to monitor the CBI
probe, saying the investigating agency is an independent body capable of probing
the scam.

Dec 14, 2010: Another PIL in SC seeking cancellation of new telecom licences and 2G
spectrum allocated during Raja’s tenure.

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The Supreme Court on Dec 14, 2010 issued notice to the central government on the
plea seeking cancellation of 2G spectrum licenses allocated during the tenure of
former telecom minister A Raja.

The Apex Court also issued notices to 11 companies which allegedly did not fulfil the
roll-out obligations as per the terms and conditions of allocation of the spectrum.

"After considering submission of the petitioner's counsel that since Trai has sent a
letter dated November 15, 2010 to secretary, DoT, which indicated that many
companies have not complied with the roll out obligation and not started the
services, we deem it fit to entertain the petition," the bench said.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by an NGO Centre for Public Interest
Litigation seeking cancellation of the licenses alleging that all norms were violated.

The companies which were issued notices were Etisalat, Uninor, Loop Telecom,
Videocon, S-Tel, Allianz Infra, Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices, SistemaShyam
Teleservices, Dishnet wireless and Vodafone-Essar.

The bench was also hearing the petition filed by Janata Party Chief Subramanian
Swamy who has also sought identical directions.

However, the bench asked Swamy to make the companies, who have not fulfilled the
roll out obligations, as parties, and then it will hear the matter along with the CPIL
petition.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the CPIL, elaborated the grounds for the
cancellation of the 2G licenses.

The bench also questioned the silence of Trai, which is the highest regulatory
authority in the telecom sector, on the issue of alleged delay in fulfilling roll-out
obligations of the companies which were issued 2G spectrum licenses.

When contradictions in the actual loss to the national exchequer was mentioned, the
bench said it will be for the government to spell out the actual loss suffered by the
national exchequer in the allocation of the spectrum which was done by allegedly
flouting several norms.

However, when Bhushan said that CAG report has given the amount, the bench said
it is not the government's version. Bhushan submitted that there was a huge loss to

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the government as the licenses were sold to other entities next day after its
allocation at three times the original price.

However, the bench said that the amount of loss has now become a debatable
issue. When Bhushan made a submission that Telecom Minister KapilSibal had
disputed the CAG report on the presumptive loss of 1.76 lakh crore (Rs 1.76 trillion)
saying it was not correct, the bench said, "We cannot take cognisance of that as it is
not part of the record."

A bench comprising justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly sought the response from
the Department of Telecom and the companies within three weeks and posted the
matter for hearing on February 1.

Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy had moved the Supreme Court seeking
cancellation of the 2G spectrum licences allotted during the tenure of A Raja
allegedly in violation of all norms and procedure causing huge loss to the state
exchequer.

The PIL filed by Swamy had sought a direction to the government for holding a fresh
auction for eligible entities for all the 122 licences in 22 circles across the country.

Swamy had alleged in his petition that the allotment of spectrum, which according to
the CAG report has caused a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore (Rs 1.76 trillion) to the state
exchequer, has been sustained despite judgments of the Delhi high court that struck
down the policy of allocating radio waves at the 2001 price on first-come-first-served
basis in 2007-08.

Sibal on Friday had rejected the estimates of the Comptroller and Auditor General on
the losses of Rs 1.76 lakh crore (Rs 1.76 trillion) on account of allocation of 2G
spectrum to telecom operators saying it "had no basis and was utterly erroneous".

Asserting that there were actually no losses to the exchequer, Sibal said "CAG has
done injustice to itself and the Opposition is doing injustice to aamaadmi."

We are extremely pained at methodology adopted by CAG for arriving at 2G
spectrum (allocation loss) figures that have no basis," Sibal had said.

Swamy'spetiton was second after an NGO, Centre for Public Interest Litigation, filed
an identical PIL on December 14, 2010, seeking cancellation of the licences for 2G

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spectrum after the apex court decided to monitor the probe into the scam by CBI and
Enforcement Directorate.

The Janata Party leader in his petition contended the Department of Telecom, then
headed by Raja, had arbitrarily and with malafide intention to benefit certain entities
advanced the cut-off date for making application for allocation of 2G spectrum from
October 1 to September 25, 2007.

Swamy submitted DoT changed the cut-off date without consulting the Trai and gave
a go-bye to various norms to benefit Raja's four favoured firms--Swan, Unitech, Loop
and Datacomm. There has been allegation that Swan was owned by Reliance
Infocom, while real estate major Unitech later entered into a joint venture with
Telenor of Norway and Loop and Datacom were owned by Ruia Group and
Videocon respectively.

In later November, Sibal had said that the government would send notices to 85
companies asking why their licences should not be cancelled for suppressing facts.
These telecom firms will be given 60 days within which to respond, he had said.

The Department of Telecom will issue notices to telecom companies which were
ineligible to get spectrum. Many companies applied for 2G licences may not have
disclosed all facts, Sibal had said

Dec 15, 2010: Swamy files petition in a Delhi court seeking his inclusion as a public
prosecutor in 2G spectrum case

Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy on Dec 15, 2010 filed a petition in a
Delhi court seeking his inclusion as a public prosecutor in the 2G spectrum case.

In his petition filed before Special CBI Judge Pradeep Chaddah, Swamy pleaded
that the court should take cognisance of his plea.

Swamy submitted that he may be appointed as a public prosecutor in the case and
also sought a direction from the court that the CBI should assist him in the
investigation.

After hearing Swamy, the court reserved its order for January 7, 2011 on his
complaint also seeking prosecution of former Telecom Minister A Raja in the case.

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Swamy approached the CBI court following up on the Union government‘s argument
late last month in the Supreme Court that there was no question of granting sanction
to prosecute Raja when there was no complaint filed against him in a competent
court.

Attorney General G E Vahanvati had contended this while terming Swamy‘s
communication to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for grant of sanction against Raja
as ―misconceived and premature‖.

Dec 16, 2010: SC decides to monitor the CBI inquiry

A bench of Justices A.K. Ganguly and G. Singhvi directed the CBI to probe the grant
of spectrum licences since 2001, thereby bringing the previous NDA government
under the ambit of the inquiry. The court sent out a strong message to the CBI and
the Enforcement Directorate not to be influenced by anybody in the 2G probe. The
CBI has been asked to file a status report on the probe by February 10 next year.

Jan 4, 2011: Swamy moves SC seeking cancellation of 2G spectrum licences

Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy moved the Supreme Court seeking
cancellation of the 2G spectrum licences allotted during the tenure of former telecom
minister A Raja allegedly in violation of all norms and procedure causing huge loss to
the state exchequer.

The PIL filed by Swamy sought a direction to the government for holding a fresh
auction for eligible entities for all the 122 licences in 22 circles across the country.

He alleged the allotment of spectrum, which according to the CAG report has caused
a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the state exchequer, has been sustained despite
judgments of the Delhi High Court that struck down the policy of allocating radio
waves at the 2001 price on first-come-first-served basis in 2007-08.

Swamy's petition was second after an NGO, Centre for Public Interest Litigation
(CPIL), filed an identical PIL on December 14, 2010, seeking cancellation of the
licences for 2G spectrum after the apex court decided to monitor the probe into the
scam by CBI and enforcement directorate.

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The Janata Party leader in his petition contended the department of telecom, and
then headed by Raja, had arbitrarily and with malafide intention to benefit certain
entities advanced the cut-off date for making application for allocation of 2G
spectrum from October 1 to September 25, 2007.

Swamy submitted DoT changed the cut-off date without consulting the Telecom
Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and gave a go-bye to various norms to benefit
Raja's four favoured firms--Swan, Unitech, Loop and Datacomm.

There has been allegation that Swan was owned by Reliance Infocom, while real
estate major Unitech later entered into a joint venture with Telenor of Norway and
Loop and Datacom were owned by Ruia Group and Videocon respectively.

"All of these had an early, clandestine, undue and unauthorized intimation of the
novel changed prerequisites and were therefore able to fulfill immediately, wellnigh
instantaneously, the paperwork and payment of license fees," the petition alleged.

"This is particularly intriguing since license fee rates (set in the region of Rs 1621
crores a piece), were officially intimated only on that date; yet the favored four were
able to produce demand drafts for these huge amounts literally at a moment's
notice," he alleged.

Swamy claimed that in less than a year, by September-October 2008, all Rajas‘ four
"cronies" (favored companies) had divested themselves of part of their licenses at
enormous profit.

The petition alleged that Swan sold 45% of its shares to Etisalat of the United Arab
Emirates and Unitech Wireless sold 60% of its shares to Telenor while Tata
Teleservices sold 26% of its shares to DoCoMo of Japan.

The petition said DoT had received 575 applications for grant of licenses from 46
companies for all the 22 service areas which were equally entitled to issue of the
desired licenses.

Swamy said if the government has maintained that spectrum is a scarce resource
and it was not possible to allocate it in respect of all pending applications then some
equitable and reasonable selection criteria of allottees had to be worked out.

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He contended the licences already allotted needs to be cancelled as DoT not only
ignored the advice of the ministry of law and justice but also did not follow the
suggestions of the Prime Minister and went ahead with issuing 85 of the 122
licenses to ineligible entities, causing a huge loss to the state exchequer, perhaps as
high as Rs 1, 76,000 crores.

Jan 5, 2011: Swamy moves SC, seeks cancellation of all 2G licences

After giving some anxious moments to the PMO over the alleged silence on the plea
for grant of sanction to prosecute the then telecom minister A Raja in the 2G
spectrum scam, Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy again moved the
Supreme Court to seek cancellation of all mobile service licences issued during
Raja's tenure.

Alleging that the allocation of spectrum during Raja's tenure as telecom minister was
arbitrary, Swamy in his writ petition said that all of those should be cancelled and a
fresh action be held inviting bids from all the eligible applicants who applied before
the original cut-off date of October 1, 2007. The cut-off date was mentioned as
October 1, 2007 but was later changed to September 25, 2007, through a press
release issued on October 10, 2007, thus eliminating many applicants allegedly to
favor the select few.

NGO People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), on whose appeal the SC had last
month agreed to monitor the probe by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate into the
2G spectrum scam, has already filed a PIL seeking relief identical to that requested
for by Swamy. It was Swamy who moved the SC against the Delhi HC order on his
request for grant of sanction for Raja's prosecution in the spectrum scam. The SC
had sought an affidavit from the PMO about its 11-month long silence on his request
dated November 29, 2009, before telling him in March 2010 that CBI was inquiring
into the matter.

Jan 10, 2011: Supreme Court issues notice to Centre on the plea seeking cancellation of 2G
licenses. Also issues notices to 11 companies which allegedly did not fulfil the roll-out
obligations or were ineligible

The Supreme Court issued notices to the centre and the telecom ministry on
petitions seeking cancellation of 2G spectrum allocation during the tenure of former

94

telecom minister A Raja. The apex court also wondered how telecom minister Kapil
Sibal could doubt the CAG finding when on that very basis the CVC had asked the
CBI to register a case in the 2G scam.

The court also made TRAI a party after taking exception to its silence on violation of
licence agreements by those who got spectrum and recommending cancellation of
licence only after A Raja's exit and SC taking up hearing of petitions. The court
asked the companies to respond by February 1.

A Bench of Justices G.S. Singhvi and A.K. Ganguly also issued notice to the 11
companies. The telecom companies to whom court issued notice are Etistat,
Vodafone, Uninor, Loop Telecom, Videocon, S Tel, Allainz Infra, Idea Cellular, Tata
Tele services, Sistema Shyam Teleservices and Dishnet Wireless..

The apex court is hearing two petitions seeking cancellation of all the licenses of 2G
spectrum issued by former communications minister A Raja. Janata Party president
Subramaniam Swamy and advocate Prashant Bhushan have moved court to cancel
all the 122 licenses. The court had upheld the plea of Swamy. Kapil Sibal had
questioned the figure of Rs 1.76 lakh crore arrived at by the CAG in calculating the
losses in 2G spectrum allocation. The CAG report had made a severe indictment of
A Raja for flouting rules in the allocation of 2G spectrum.

The bench also questioned the silence of TRAI, which is the highest regulatory
authority in the telecom sector, on the issue of alleged delay in fulfilling roll-out
obligations of the companies which were issued 2G spectrum licenses.

When contradictions in the actual loss to the national exchequer was mentioned, the
bench said it will be for the government to spell out the actual loss suffered by the
national exchequer in the allocation of the spectrum which was done by allegedly
flouting several norms.

Bhushan submitted that there was a huge loss to the government as the licenses
were sold to other entities next day after its allocation at three times the original
price. However, the bench said that the amount of loss has now become a debatable
issue.

95

Jan 30, 2011: Government’s decision to regularise licences of the companies
which failed to meet the deadline for roll-out obligation challenged in the
Supreme Court

Feb 2, 2011: Raja, former Telecom Secretary Siddartha Behura and Raja’s
former Personal Secretary R K Chandolia arrested and next day they were
remanded in CBI custody

Feb 8, 2011: Raja remanded to two more days of CBI custody. Behura and Chandolia sent
to judicial custody

A. Raja was remanded to two more days of CBI custody by a court for further
interrogation after the agency submitted that he was not divulging any ―useful
information‖ regarding his role in the 2G scam.

Special judge O P Saini, however, sent former telecom secretary Siddartha Behura
and Raja‘s former personal secretary R K Chandolia to Tihar Jail under judicial
custody as the federal agency said it no longer needs them in its custody. Raja was
in CBI custody till 10 February.

The trio, arrested by the agency on 2 February for their alleged role in the 2G
spectrum allocation scam, involving a loss of Rs. 22,000 crore to the public
exchequer as per the CVC estimates, were produced before the special judge
following the expiry of their five-day custody with the CBI.

Refuting allegations by Raja‘s counsel Ramesh Gupta that the agency had not
disclosed to the court the outcome of the probe conducted so far in this case,
Akhilesh said, ―The case diary has already been submitted to the court. Each and
everything cannot be disclosed in the open courtroom.‖

"Some more documents are to be recovered and accused A Raja is to be confronted
with them," senior CBI prosecutor Akhilesh submitted. About Behura and Chandolia,
the CBI counsel said the agency no longer needs their custody. "The two can be
sent to Tihar Jail under judicial custody," he said.

Feb 8, 2011: Shahid Usman Balwa, promoter of Swan Telecom, arrested by CBI

96

Shahid Balwa, director of Etisalat DB Telecom, being investigated for his alleged role
in the multi-crore 2G spectrum scam, was arrested in Mumbai. Balwa was brought to
Delhi on transit remand, said CBI spokesperson Vinitha Thakur. Balwa has earlier
been summoned by the CBI, but did not turn up citing a death in his family.
The agency has also sent a letter rogatory (LR) to Mauritius in connection with the
scam, with specific questions on Swan Telecom, which was given 2G licence. The
letter rogatory has been sent to ascertain how Swan built the corpus to acquire 2G
licence, for which it paid Rs 1,537 crore. It also seeks to know the companies
incorporated in the licence and the sister companies of the group, a source said.

The agency had to file a status report in SC. Raja, his former personal secretary R K
Chandolia and former telecom secretary Sidhartha Behura were under custody. CBI
also questioned former Wireless Advisor (Telecom), R P Aggarwal and K Sridhar,
former Telecom Commission member.

Feb 10, 2011: SC asks the CBI to bring under its scanner corporate houses which were
beneficiaries of the 2G spectrum. Raja remanded to CBI custody for four more days by a
special CBI court along with Balwa

Broadening the net, the Supreme Court asked the CBI to bring under its scanner
corporate houses which were beneficiaries of the 2G spectrum scam without being
influenced by their status be it millionaires or whether they are on the Forbes list.
Giving a free hand to the investigating agency and setting the contours of the probe,
the Court asked the government to set up a special court exclusively to try the
spectrum scam case.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for an NGO, Centre for Public Interest
Litigation, pointed out that the agencies have not questioned the heads of several
companies including the Swan technology, which was controlled by Anil Ambani‘s
Reliance Group, when the spectrum was allocated.

The apex court said freedom of probe agencies should not be curtailed and they
should go beyond the role of the four persons already arrested including A Raja and
tell the names of conspirators.

It questioned CBI‘s strategy of seeking short custodial remands of the accused and
said it must have free hand to question anyone. ―There is something which is

97

surprising. CBI must have a free hand to question anyone. Whether its freedom is
curtailed by seeking short remand....complexity is involved. It is a very complicated
matter. We feel that investigating agency must be given free hand to seek longer
remand. Otherwise the whole purpose of investigation is frustrated,‖ the Bench said.

Feb 14, 2011: Raja’s CBI custody extended for three more days. Balwa’s custody extended
for four days

Former Telecom Minister A Raja was remanded to CBI custody for 3 more days for
interrogation on his alleged role in 2G spectrum allocation scam along with Swam
Telecom-promoter Shahid Usman Balwa whose custody was extended for four
days. Special Judge O P Saini extended Raja's custody, ignoring his allegation that
CBI was being driven by political motive instead of probing the case against him.

"What is the purpose of police custody? (It's not clear) whether they (CBI) want it for
unearthing the conspiracy or have political motive. CBI should not make it a political
game and they should investigate only," Raja's counsel Ramesh Gupta contended
before the court, opposing CBI's plea for extension of his client's custody.

However, the judge said "the crime is enormous in nature and its investigation is
time-consuming. Accordingly, considering the enormity of the crime, complex and
complicated nature of the investigation, voluminous documents involved in the case,
I find that the prayer for further custodial interrogation of the accused persons is
justified.

The 47-year-old DMK leader, who has been facing an intense grilling by CBI sleuths
for the last 11 days at the agency headquarters, opposed CBI's plea saying "no new
facts have come on record during the previous police custody remand."

Seeking extension of remand, senior public prosecutor Akhilesh, said both the
accused were confronted with each other during the custodial interrogation but they
were "evasive in their replies". "Both the accused have been evasive in their replies
and as such, their interrogation could not be completed. In this case, the documents
are quite voluminous and the nature of the case is quite difficult and complicated. As
such, their interrogation could not be completed," CBI said.

98

Opposing CBI's plea for extension of Balwa's custody, his counsel Vijay Aggarwal
contended before the court that his client was merely engaged in bonafide
commercial transactions and had not violated any law. He said Balwa has been co-
operating with CBI throughout the investigation.

Feb 17, 2011: Raja Sent To Tihar Jail under Judicial Custody

A Raja, arrested for his alleged role in 2G Spectrum allocation scam, was sent to
Tihar Jail by a Delhi Court under 14-days' judicial custody. The judge also directed
the Tihar Jail authorities to let the former minister have access to home-made food,
besides his medicines. The court gave this direction to the jail superintendent on a
plea made by Raja's counsel Ramesh Gupta.

Raja was arrested on February 2 for his alleged role in 2G spectrum allocation scam,
which, as per the CBI, has caused a pecuniary loss of Rs 22,000 crore to the state
exchequer.

Feb 18, 2011: Balwa Sent To Judicial Custody

Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Usman Balwa, arrested for his alleged involvement
in the 2G spectrum scam along with former Telecom Minister A Raja, was sent to
Tihar Jail after a Delhi court remanded him in judicial custody. The Dynamix Balwas
(DB) group managing director was produced in court following expiry of his four-day
CBI custody. The court took into account CBI counsel Akhilesh's submission that he
is no longer required for interrogation but he may be remanded in judicial custody as
the probe into the case is not yet complete.

The court also directed Tihar authorities to consider Balwa's plea to have home-
made food and special orthopaedic mattress and pillows in jail as per the relevant
rules after his counsel pleaded for special privilege for his client saying he suffered
from acute back pain.

The CBI had also questioned ADAG chairman Anil Ambani at its headquarters,
confronting him with Raja and Balwa, amid allegations that his group received
favours from Raja in getting dual technology and a role for Reliance Telecom in
promoting Swan Telecom.

99

Ambani is believed to have clarified to the CBI "about the ongoing issues" related to
the possible role of Reliance Telecom Limited (RTL), a subsidiary of ADAG, in Swan.

Feb 24, 2011: CBI Tells A Delhi Court That Balwa Facilitated Transaction To
Kalaignar TV

Feb 28, 2011: Raja seeks judicial proceedings through video conferencing stating that he
faces threat to life from fellow prisoners

A. Raja moved an application before a court seeking conduct of court proceedings
from Tihar Central Jail through videoconferencing, when his judicial remand ends.
Special Judge (CBI) O.P. A lawyer representing Mr. Raja said this would help save
time incurred in transporting Mr. Raja from Tihar to Patiala House on the day of the
hearing.

Mr. Behura's counsel, senior advocate S.S. Gandhi, sought from Mr. Saini a copy of
the 18-page order that the judge had delivered on February 25 while disposing of the
bail applications moved by Shahid Usman Balwa and R.K. Chandolia to ensure that
the same arguments were not made before the court again. A counsel for Mr. Raja
also requested for a copy of the order.

The CBI in its reply to Mr. Behura's bail application said that Mr. Raja and Mr.
Behura had ignored serious issues raised regarding further verification of eligibility
conditions of Swan Telecom and had ―dishonestly approved the file on September 1,
2008 for issue of Letters of Intent (LOI) for 13 telecom service areas.‖

The CBI also opposed the bail application stating that the investigation has prima
facie revealed that Mr. Behura ―in conspiracy with‖ Mr. Chandolia and others made
arrangements at Sanchar Bhavan for distribution of LOIs and responses of the
Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in an ―arbitrary and unfair manner.‖ The
investigating agency said that the LOIs and responses of the DoT were neither
distributed simultaneously nor on a first-come, first-served basis, but instead were
―distributed in a manner designed to benefit Swan Telecom and other companies.‖

The CBI added that ―in furtherance of the said conspiracy,‖ Mr. Behura played a vital
role in allocating the spectrum in an arbitrary and unfair manner to Swan Telecom in
the Delhi Telecom circle, where availability of 2G spectrum was not adequate to
cater to the requirements of all spectrum applicants. The CBI sough more time from
100

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