REPORTABLE

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.

34

OF 2015

(arising out of Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No. 2961 of 2013)

SUNIL BHARTI MITTAL

.....APPELLANT(S)

VERSUS

CENTRAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

.....RESPONDENT(S)

W I T H

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 35 OF 2015

(arising out of Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No. 3161 of 2013)

A N D

CRIMINAL APPEAL NOS. 36-37

OF 2015

(arising out of Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No. 3326-3327 of 2013)

J U D G M E N T

A.K. SIKRI, J.

Leave granted.

Introduction:

2.

In the year 2008, during the tenure of the then Minister of

Telecommunications, Unified Access Services Licenses (“UASL”)

Criminal Appeal No. of 2015 & Ors.

Page 1 of 58

(arising out of SLP (Crl.) No. 2961 of 2013 & Ors.)

Digitally signed by

Charanjeet Kaur

Date: 2015.01.09

16:59:12 IST

Reason:

Signature Not Verified

were granted. After sometime, an information was disclosed to

the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) alleging various forms of

irregularities committed in connection with the grant of the said

UASL which resulted in huge losses to the public exchequer. On

the basis of such source information, the CBI registered a case

bearing RC DAI 2009 A 0045 on 21^st October, 2009. It is now

widely known as “2G Spectrum Scam Case”. The case was

registered against unknown officers of the Department of

Telecommunications (DOT) as well as unknown private persons

and companies.

3.

While the investigation into the said case was still on, a writ

petition was filed by an NGO known as Center for Public Interest

Litigation (CPIL) before the High Court of Delhi seeking directions

for a Court monitored investigation. Apprehension of the petitioner

was that without such a monitoring by the Court, there may not be

a fair and impartial investigation. Delhi High Court dismissed the

petition.

4.

Challenging the order of the Delhi High Court, CPIL filed Special

Leave Petition before this Court under Article 136 of the

Constitution of India. At that time, another petitioner,

Dr.Subramanian Swamy, directly approached the Supreme Court

Criminal Appeal No. of 2015 & Ors.

Page 2 of 58

(arising out of SLP (Crl.) No. 2961 of 2013 & Ors.)

by way of a writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of

India seeking almost the same reliefs on similar kinds of

allegations. Leave was granted in the said SLP, converting it into

a civil appeal. Said civil appeal and writ petition were taken up

together for analogous hearing. On 16^th December, 2010, a

detailed interim order was passed in the civil appeal inter alia

giving the following directions:

“a. The CBI shall conduct thorough investigation into

various issues highlighted in the report of the Central

Vigilance Commission, which was forwarded to the

Director, CBI vide letter dated 12.10.2009 and the

report of the CAG, who have prima facie found

serious irregularities in the grant of licences to 122

applicants, majority of whom are said to be ineligible,

the blatant violation of the terms and conditions of

licences and huge loss to the public exchequer

running into several thousand crores. The CBI

should also probe how licences were granted to

large number of ineligible applicants and who was

responsible for the same and why the TRAI and the

DoT did not take action against those licensees who

sold their stakes/equities for many thousand crores

and also against those who failed to fulfill roll out

obligations and comply with other conditions of

licence.

b.

The CBI shall, if it has already not registered first

information report in the context of the alleged

irregularities committed in the grant of licences from

2001 to 2006-2007, now register a case and conduct

thorough investigation with particular emphasis on

the loss caused to the public exchequer and

corresponding gain to the licensees/service

providers a