ED and CBI urge High Court to take up 2G Scam appeals out-of-turn

On Thursday, the Enforcement Directorate & Central Bureau of Investigation urged for urgent & out-of-turn hearing in the appeals filed before the High Court of Delhi against the acquittal of Ex-Telecom Minister A Raja & others in the 2G spectrum allocation scam cases. Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain, representing the ED & the CBI, submitted before Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani that Justice Brajesh Sethi, who has been hearing the appeals, is going to retire on November 30 & the respondent individuals & companies be asked to conclude their arguments by Sept.

The ASG said he has concluded his arguments in the CBI's case & will make small arguments in the Enforcement Directorate matter. "A considerable judicial time has been spent in the arguments before Justice Brajesh Sethi. It will be a waste of the court's time if the submissions are not completed before Justice Sethi's retirement," he said, adding that the appeals be taken up in an urgent & out-of-turn manner. 

He made the submissions when a plea moved by one of the firms, which was acquitted in the ED case, in connection with the HC's 2018 order directing status quo to be maintained on the release of properties attached in the case. Justice Bhambhani pointed out that the 2G case appeals were pending before Justice Sethi & this application should also go before the same judge.

Jain also submitted that the application be placed before Justice Sethi along with the appeals. Justice Bhambhani, in its order, said that subject to the orders of the Chief justice, the matter be placed before Justice Sethi on Aug 17.

During the brief hearing, advocate Vijay Aggarwal, representing some of the respondents, said the CBI & ED cases were distinct & a previous order sheet of the court makes it clear that the matter was not part-heard. He also said if the Court deems it appropriate to send the plea before Justice Sethi, he has no objection.

A special court had on Dec 21, 2017, acquitted Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi & others in CBI & ED cases related to the scam. It had acquitted 17 others, including DMK supremo M Karunanidhi's wife Dayalu Ammal, Vinod Goenka, Asif Balwa, film producer Karim Morani, P Amirtham & Sharad Kumar, Director of Kalaignar TV in the ED case. 

On the same day, the trial court had also acquitted Ex-Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura, Raja's erstwhile private secretary R K Chandolia, Unitech Ltd MD Sanjay Chandra & three top executives of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (RADAG) — Gautam Doshi, Surendra Pipara & Hari Nair, in the CBI's 2G case. Swan Telecom promoters Shahid Usman Balwa & Vinod Goenka & directors of Kusegaon Fruits & Vegetables Pvt Ltd Asif Balwa & Rajiv Agarwal were also acquitted in the CBI case.

On March 19 2018, the ED had approached the HC challenging the Special Court's order acquitting all the accused. A day later, the CBI too had challenged in the HG the acquittal of the accused in the case. 

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