The government said on Thursday the Supreme Court verdict on 2G licences issued in 2008 would bring clarity, sanity and hope in the telecom sector.
Telecom minister Kapil Sibal met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after the apex court gave its judgement and then, addressed the media on the government’s position.
The court cancelled the 122 licences awarded in 2008 by Andimuthu Raja, the then telecom minister, holding these were issued in a “totally arbitrary and unconstitutional manner”. It asked the government to initiate a process to allot fresh licences based on auction of spectrum and seek recommendations from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India in this regard and complete the process in four months.
Sibal said the government would announce the new telecom policy in 10 days. The policy would include exit option, which would help companies willing to move out after the cancellation of licences.
Sibal dismissed the Opposition’s demand for the resignation of Manmohan Singh and home minister P Chidambaram, who was the finance minister at the time of the licence issue. “There is no indictment of the prime minister or the then finance minister in the judgement. If there is any indictment, it is the 2003 policy (first-come, first-serve) of the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government and we only followed it,” Sibal said. The United Progressive Alliance government only followed the policy of the NDA government, declared discriminatory by the court.
The minister said the decision was limited to the companies which got 2G licences in 2008, as those entities which got these during the NDA regime were not part of the case.
The government would abide by the judgement that spectrum should be auctioned, which the ministry had done by delinking spectrum from the licence in 2011 after he took over, he said.
On the possibility of the companies getting their licence fee back from the government due to the cancellation, Sibal said any aggrieved party could approach the court for relief. “The confusion has been removed and clarity has been brought in the sector, and this will help in getting investments in the sector,” he said.
On the collective responsibility of the government in taking decisions in the grant of 2G licences, Sibal tried to shift the blame on Raja. “The court has clearly said the then minister (Raja) did not heed the good advice of both the prime minister and the finance ministry,” he said.
Major companies affected by the verdict include Uninor, Sistema-Shyam, Videocon, Etisalat DB, Loop Telecom and Idea.
