Where the appeal stands, and what to watch
Published 9 October 2026
The court record also shows why a hearing date is not the same as a completed hearing. On 12 February 2026, Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma recorded that no one appeared for the CBI when the matters were taken up. "In the interest of justice, adverse orders are deferred," the order said. It listed the matters, at request, for 19 May at 2:30 PM for CBI arguments in CRL.A. 277/2024 and required any outstanding written submissions at least two days before the next hearing. The heading records counsel for the Enforcement Directorate. Reporting on that order on 20 February, the Daily Pioneer gave its own counts: 17 judges over eight years and 140 hearings, 126 of them to grant leave to appeal. Those are the newspaper's figures, not counts independently established by the court record. The official order establishes the absence, the deferred adverse orders and the next listed hearing; it does not establish that the appeal was decided. (Delhi High Court order, 12 February 2026; Daily Pioneer, 20 February 2026)
The Delhi High Court's official case-status system, checked on 8 October 2026, lists the CBI's admitted challenge as CRL.A. 277/2024, CBI v A Raja and others, marked pending. The latest order displayed in the CBI appeal's order list, rechecked that morning, is dated Tuesday, 28 July 2026. Justice Manoj Jain recorded that a predecessor bench had fixed hearings for 29-31 July, but that other part-heard matters were already being heard. He cancelled those dates and listed the matters for 27-28 October 2026 at 3:30 PM. The order's heading covers both the CBI appeal and the Enforcement Directorate's CRL.L.P. 184/2018. It is a procedural listing order and says nothing on guilt, the validity of the acquittal or the CAG estimates. The CBI matter is labelled a criminal appeal, while the ED matter in this order remains labelled a criminal leave petition. The 22 March 2024 grant of leave covers the CBI appeal. The live case-status entries for both CRL.A. 277/2024 and CRL.L.P. 184/2018 remain marked pending and show 28 October 2026 as the next date, with 31 July recorded as the last date. Neither order list displays a later order than 28 July. The status system's single next-date field and the July order's two-day hearing schedule are different records: the former now displays 28 October; the latter fixes 27-28 October at 3:30 PM. The last-date field does not prove that a hearing took place on 31 July, particularly when the signed order cancelled the July hearing dates. (Delhi High Court case status; Delhi High Court order, 28 July 2026)
A separate spectrum decision reached the market while the acquittal appeal was still waiting. In a disclosure dated 6 October 2026, Reliance Communications said DoT communications of 5 October had terminated, with immediate effect, spectrum assigned to RCOM and its wholly owned subsidiary Reliance Telecom through auctions in 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. The disclosure and its annexures identify unpaid spectrum-related charges and failures to meet the applicable auction conditions, including roll-out obligations. DoT directed the companies to cease using the wireless networks and services based on that spectrum. The company said the termination would affect the resolution plans because those plans provided for sale of the right to use spectrum as an asset; applications for approval remained before the NCLT in Mumbai, and further financial and operational implications were still being examined. This was an action concerning later auction assignments and their conditions, not a judgment on the 2008 licence allocations or the criminal acquittals. It shows another limit of treating spectrum as an ordinary asset: an auction win did not remove the obligations attached to its continued use. (Reliance Communications exchange disclosure and DoT letters, 6 October 2026)
The criminal cases discussed here concern alleged offences. As checked on 8 October 2026, the CBI appeal against the 2017 acquittal remains pending. The October hearing dates are scheduling entries, not rulings on the merits, and a listed date can move. (Delhi High Court case status; Delhi High Court order, 28 July 2026)