Citizen Direct at India Together: Reliance case tests UPA resolve

4 June 2005

Early in March 2005 the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal(TDSAT) upheld the decision of Department of Telecommunication (DoT) imposing a penalty of Rs.150 crores on Reliance Infocomm (RIC) for committing serious breach of Calling Line Identification (CLI), through which the true nature of ISD calls were concealed; fake numbers which did not belong to any subscriber were generated, misguided the recipients of the calls and misled the security agencies. Industry sources (BSNL/MTNL being one) estimate that RIC benefited to the tune of thousands of crores through such tampering. In ordinary course this money could have been used for subsidising telecom in rural areas. Such breaches also have grave national security implications. (1 crore = 10 million)

Mr.Vahanvati, the Solicitor General of India submitted in Court that the modus operandi adopted by the Reliance is criminal in nature. Reliance gave no explanation whatsoever why it had resorted to generating dummy or bogus subscriber numbers. They also started giving correct CLI numbers from 16th September, 2004, as soon as DoT asked for its explanation. It is pertinent that the number of dummy numbers ran into hundreds and thousands. In its judgment the Tribunal was categorical that �the petitioner deliberately changed the nature of the calls�.

It appears that the modus operandi adopted by the RIC prima facie amounts to forgery and cheating. Despite categorical statements to the effect from the DoT and TDSAT no criminal investigation has been ordered by the Union Government so far. Recent reports in the media point towards the existence of intricate planning including a benefit-risk evaluation done at the top echelons of the company before such tampering. Newspaper reports even authoritatively quote internal communications that claims that �regulators have been taken good care of�!

The only amount realized from RIC is Rs.150 crore, a paltry sum in comparison to the amounts RIC seems to have benefited. Government�s inaction is doubly inexplicable when one considers the statement of its own Solicitor General in Court. In such a situation a thorough investigation into the aspect of criminality of such actions is absolutely necessary; keeping in mind the large amount of public money involved. The Delhi based Citizens Forum Against Corruption (CFAC) has written to the Prime Minister�s Office requesting a thorough investigation by the CBI. This case will put to test the resolve of the UPA Government to hold the corrupt accountable in matters involving huge sums of public money.

T K Naveen 4 Jun 2005

T K Naveen is with the Delhi based Citizens Forum Against Corruption. The forum was formed in October 2004.

Citizen Direct is India Together’s channel for publishing reports from citizens who have detailed information about specific civil society concerns and matters, by virtue of their participation, association, or independent observation. These reports are therefore as witnessed and understood by the authors themselves; India Together accepts no liability or responsibility for them.
More

• Spread the word

• Contact the author

Post your comment below, or View Existing Comments (0)

---

Post a comment

Note: Your post will appear within 24 hours unless found inappropriate (spam, netabuse). See policy

Name:

Email Address:

URL:

Remember personal info? YesNo Comments:

For verification, please enter the security code you see below

Note: Your post will appear within 24 hours unless found inappropriate (spam, netabuse). See policy

---

EXISTING COMMENTS

Post your comment

powered by Movable Type 2.64