The CBI has continued to oppose the plea to probe the Home Minister Mr P. Chidambaram's alleged role in the 2G spectrum case. The CBI counsel, Mr K.K. Venugopal, told the apex court on Thursday that it is “easy to attack the (then) Finance Minister (Mr P. Chidambaram) as it is fruitful politically.”

Mr Chidambaram was the Finance Minister in 2008 when the 2G spectrum was allocated during Mr A Raja's tenure as Telecom Minister.

The CBI also opposed a plea seeking its probe in the 2G case to be monitored on a day-to-day basis by a Special Investigation Team appointed by the apex court.

The CBI was replying to the Janata Party President, Dr Subramanian Swamy's, petition seeking the apex court to direct the CBI to probe Mr Chidambaram's alleged role in the 2G case as well as a plea by the NGO the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) for setting up of an SIT by the apex court to monitor the 2G case probe.

Advocate Mr Prashant Bhushan, representing CPIL, had also said on Wednesday that the new documents submitted Dr Swamy as ‘proof' of Mr Chidambaram's alleged role, including the Finance Ministry note (suggesting Mr Chidambaram's alleged complicity in the 2G spectrum scam), makes Mr Chidambaram's role in the 2G scam very clear.

However, Mr Venugopal said the Finance Minister by himself does not comprise the entire Finance Ministry, adding that it also includes officials such as the Finance Secretary. He said though a Finance Ministry note had recommended auctioning of the 2G spectrum or else charging a higher entry fee, the Telecom Ministry under Mr Raja had “jumped the gun” and issued Letters of Intent (LoI). Mr Venugopal said the Finance Minister could not have cancelled the LoI issued by the Telecom Ministry as it could have resulted in “criminality”.

Mr Venugopal said the CBI was carrying out the probe in an expeditious manner and without being influenced by opinions including those given by the Ministries of Corporate Affairs and Telecom as well as by the telecom regulator TRAI. “All this demonstrates that the CBI is independent of Government control,” he said.

The court will resume the hearing on October 10.

Arguments on Law Ministry report conclude

PTI reports : A Delhi court today concluded hearing arguments on a Law Ministry report in the 2G spectrum allocation scam with accused firm Unitech Wireless claiming that it was eligible for the grant of licenses.The counsel for Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Pvt Ltd cited the opinion of the Ministry of Law and Justice, which was earlier given to the Department of Telecom (DoT), and said it was eligible for Unified Access Services Licenses (UASL) even at the time of applying for them.“The relevant date is only the date on which licence was granted. As per the UASL guidelines, the eligibility of a firm has to be determined on the date when the licence was granted.“Even on the date of application for licences, Unitech had complied with the norms of UASL guidelines,” he told Special CBI Judge O.P. Saini.The DoT, which had sought the opinion from the ministry, did not allege that the firm, promoted by co—accused Sanjay Chandra, violated the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Act, the defence lawyer said.

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