 "Ravi Ruia moves SC challenging 2G court's summoning order")
Ruia, whose name was not mentioned as an accused in CBI's FIR and charge sheet filed before the special 2G court, moved the apex court contending that if true and correct facts about the affairs of Sterling Cellular Ltd, in which he was a director at that time, were placed before the trial court, such a summoning order may not have been passed.
He said in his petition that it appeared that the only basis for summoning him was that as he had chaired some of the meetings of the company, thus he was an "alter-ego" and "directing mind of the will" of Sterling Cellular Ltd.
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Ruia also said he was not holding any executive position in the firm and at the relevant time, Essar Group was only a minority shareholder in Sterling Cellular Ltd, which was made an accused by the CBI in its charge sheet filed in the trial court on December 21 last year.
He said that such a basis, where any director is held liable for the acts of a firm, is contrary to the well established legal position.
The CBI had filed the charge sheet against former Telecom Secretary Shyamal Ghosh and three telecom companies Bharti Cellular Ltd, Hutchison Max Telecom Pvt Ltd (now known as Vodafone India Ltd) and Sterling Cellular Ltd (now known as Vodafone Mobile Service Ltd).
Special CBI Judge O P Saini, while summoning these accused for April 11 after taking cognisance of the charge sheet, had also asked Ruia, Mittal and Asim Ghosh, the then managing director of accused firm Hutchison Max Telecom Pvt Ltd, to appear before it.
An apex court bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir had yesterday postponed till April 16 the proceedings in the trial court in the case while hearing a plea filed by Mittal.