SC allays govt apprehensions on 2G judgment

The Supreme Court, while postponing the hearing in the 2G telecom spectrum review petition to May 1, allayed the government’s “apprehensions” that its judgment would impact the distribution of natural resources in other fields like mining.

The bench, comprising G S Singhvi and K S Radhakrishnan, on Friday issued a notice to the original petitioner, the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), which had moved the writ petition in 2010, leading to the cancellation of 122 telecom licences. The court had also called for selection of new companies within three months. The notice has been issued to CPIL alone.

Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising said the government was raising only questions of law. It did not want changes in other parts of the judgment. The primary concern was whether the judgment would be applicable to all sectors and what were the other valid methods for the distribution of material resources. “We are accepting that any method must be fair and transparent,” she said.

The judges said the government’s apprehensions on the application of the judgment to other industries were not well-founded. Jaising clarified she was not expressing any apprehension, and that the government only wanted a “roadmap” on these issues.

The passage in the judgment delivered on February 2 which affected the government was the one making an observation against the first-come-first-served method adopted by the then telecom minister A Raja. It read in part: Lawyers for telecom companies expressed their concern on the judgment. The telecom regulator is threatening to prosecute some of them who have lost their licences and are not starting their services.