Supreme Court exempts Mittal, Ruia from appearing in 2G case
Bharti Airtel Ltd chairman and managing director Sunil Bharti Mittal and Essar Group promoter Ravi Ruia today got a breather from the Supreme Court which exempted them from personal appearance in a trial court in a case of alleged irregularities related to the allocation of additional second-generation spectrum in 2002.
The apex court also said that the hearing against them in the special CBI court will remain "postponed" until further orders.
"Interim order (on postponement of hearing in the trial court) already passed will continue in the meantime and the petitioners (Mr. Mittal and Mr. Ruia) are not required to appear before the special judge/CBI (2G spectrum cases), New Delhi as they have already furnished their personal bonds," a bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir said.
The bench, also comprising Justices S.S. Nijjar and Pinaki Chandra Ghose, formally issued the notice to the CBI on Mr. Mittal's plea challenging the trial court order summoning him as an accused in the case.
The bench asked the agency to respond to the notice within four weeks, after which the rejoinder will be filed by Mr. Mittal in three weeks.
After the recusal of the two judges, a new bench of the apex court had yesterday commenced the hearing, during which Mr. Mittal's counsel had made the submission for an hour and the matter was listed for further arguments today.
Justice Ghose was today included as the third judge in the bench. The chief justice, along with Justice Nijjar, had yesterday heard the submission of Mittal's counsel Harish Salve.
Earlier, two judges, Justice Vikramajit Sen and Justice A.R. Dave, on April 15 and April 16, respectively, had recused themselves from hearing the matter without giving reasons. When the three-judge bench today took up the matter for hearing, it was told that no formal notice has been issued on Mr. Mittal's petition.
On April 8, the apex court had directed the postponement of the hearing before the trial court while asking the CBI to file a short affidavit along with the police report, i.e., the charge sheet.
