Mahajan denies showing favour to Reliance's WLL plan

     New Delhi: Senior BJP leader and former Communication and Information Technology Minister Pramod Mahajan has denied the allegation that he had taken any decision that had favoured any particular company during his tenure as Minister saying that all the files were open with the department for investigation. The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the Centre, the CBI and the Central Vigilance Commission on a PIL seeking investigation for allowing Reliance Infocomm Ltd to launch its wireless in local loop (WLL) services as full mobility services without paying the requisite licence fee for entry into fully mobile services.

    The PIL filed by the Citizens Forum Against Corruption, an NGO, alleged that Mahajan had misused his official position to grant undue favours to Reliance Infocomm. It was done against the considered opinion of the Telephone Regulatory Authority of India, which has caused a loss of Rs 1,100 crore to the government exchequer, the petitioner alleges. The petitioner's counsel Prashant Bhushan also alleges that in lieu of that favour, one crore shares of Reliance Infocomm was transferred to three companies linked to Mahajan's son-in-law. "Reliance Infocomm allotted one crore shared to three companies linked to his son-in-law at Re 1 each as against the Rs 55 each paid by Reliance Industries Limited itself for the same share at the same time," it said.