| The role of former Communications Minister Pramod Mahajan in the launch of the wireless in local loop (WLL) service by Reliance Infocomm was under scrutiny again when the Supreme Court today issued notice to the Centre, the CBI and the Central Vigilance Commission. |
| This is after a public interest petition alleged corruption in granting permission to the telecom giant to launch the WLL service four years ago. |
| A Bench headed by Chief Justice YK Sabharwal issued notices on the petition moved by the Citizens' Forum Against Corruption, which alleged bribery in the deal. |
| Counsel Prashant Bhushan submitted that Reliance Infocomm was allowed to launch the service with a capability of full mobility without even paying the requisite licence fee for its entry into a full-mobility cellular service. |
| It caused a loss of Rs 1,100 to the exchequer. It was done against the considered opinion of the Telephone Regulatory Authority of India. |
| The counsel further stated that Reliance Infocomm allotted one crore of its shares to one Ashish Deora through three front companies at Re 1 each, against Rs 55 each paid by Reliance Industries itself for the same shares at the same time. The counsel also named Mahajan's close relatives as beneficiaries in the scam. |
| The association has been writing to the prime minister and the CBI but no action has been taken so far. Some of the replies received from the vigilance commission were also misleading. Therefore, the petitioner asked the court to direct that a criminal investigation be launched against concerned entities. |
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