Although the decision from the bench comprising justices GS Singhvi and AK Ganguly came in as a breather for P Chidambaram, it doesn’t clear him off the shadow as the matter will be taken up by the Patiala House Court of Justice OP Saini on February 4. Chidambaram’s arch rival and Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy had filed a petition seeking a probe against him and argued that PC should be made co-accused in the spectrum scam along with the then telecom minister A Raja. Swamy strongly argues that Finance Ministry cannot be overruled by the Telecom Ministry and that A Raja could not have went ahead with the spectrum allocation process without the nod from the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram. "This is the best judgment which could come... the country can be justifiably proud of the Supreme Court. The court has said the government must now get the market value of these licenses and the profit from the same should be set aside for legal aid and for ex-defence personnel," said an seemingly happy Subramanian Swamy.

The government is in a jittery state over the court ruling and the opposition termed the whole 2G saga a collective failure of the UPA government. Main opposition party, BJP has demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should take the responsibility and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi should answer. Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal is expected to address the nation to explain the verdict and to clarify the government’s stand on the issue.

The spectrum allocations during the UPA-I government in 2008 were done in a 'First-Come-First-Served' basis under the ministry of A Raja, of which the presumptive loss the CAG had assumed is around 1.76 lakhs Crore. The 122 licences were given out in 2008 in 2001 prices.