The Supreme Court on Wednesday refrained from passing order on the plea by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy, challenging grant of FIPB clearance to Malaysian company Maxis by the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram in 2006.
The court, however, gave CBI two months to file the charge sheet in the controversial takeover of Aircel by Maxis on payment of alleged bribe into the family business of then Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran.
Swamy alleged that Chidambaram’s decision to grant FIPB clearance to Maxis benefited the Minister’s son’s firms. A Bench of Justices GS Singhvi and KS Radhakrishnan said it will wait for completion of the probe in the Aircel-Maxis deal. “No order is required to be passed at this stage. let the investigation be completed,” it said and directed CBI to give copies of the minutes of the FIPB meeting to Swamy.
At the same time, the Bench permitted Swamy to move an application to amend his petition to specifically challenge the FIPB clearance granted on March 6, 2007. This, after the court examined minutes of the FIPB meeting presented to it by the Centre which recorded the nod for Maxis to acquire 99 per cent stake in Aircel, breaching the cap set for FDI in telecom.