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SC issues notices on Paswan's phone bounty

The Supreme Court today issued notices to the Union Ministries of Communication and Finance on a public interest litigation challenging Union Communication Minister Ram Vilas Paswan's decision to give free telephones to 3.2 lakh employees in his ministry, allegedly at a loss of over Rs 200 crore.

A vacation bench comprising Justices K T Thomas and M B Shah, while issuing notices, indicated that similar cases pending before several high courts could be transferred to the apex court so that a uniform ruling could be given.

The PIL, filed by the non-governmental organisation Common Cause through counsel Kamini Jaiswal alleged that the minister's decision to give free telephone connections to employees would cause a loss of Rs 126 crore on non-recurring expenditure front and an annual recurring loss of Rs 100 crore.

The bench mentioned the stay granted on the scheme by the Kerala high court and said the counsel could move an application for transfer of all such cases pending in the high courts to the Supreme Court.

The petitioner also alleged that the free telephone scheme would cause a loss of interest on security deposits amounting to Rs 11 crore every year, the petitioner said.

The NGO cited newspaper reports and contended that the finance ministry should be asked whether its approval or concurrence was obtained before it was announced.

PTI

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