Supreme Court Issues Notice to Government on Cancellation of 2G Spectrum

The Supreme Court of India today issued notice to the Central Government on the plea seeking cancellation of 2G spectrum licenses allocated during the tenure of former Telecom Minister A Raja. The court also issued notices to a11 the companies which allegedly did not fulfill the roll out obligations as per the terms and conditions of allocation of the spectrum.

The apex court also impleaded TRAI (Telephone Regulatory Authority of India) as a respondent in the petition. A bench comprising justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly sought the response from the Department of Telecom and the companies within three weeks and posted the matter for hearing on February 1.

"After considering submission of the petitioner's counsel that since TRAI has sent a letter dated November 15, 2010 to Secretary, DoT, which indicated that many companies have not complied with the roll out obligation and not started the services, we deem it fit to entertain the petition," the bench said.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by an NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) seeking cancellation of the licenses alleging that all norms were violated. The companies to which notices weree issued includes Etisalat, Uninor, Loop Telecom, Videocon, S-Tel, Allianz Infra, Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices, Sistema Shyam Teleservices, Dishnet wireless and Vodafone-Essar.

The bench was also hearing the petition filed by Janata Party Chief Subramanian Swamy who has also sought identical directions.

However, the bench asked Swamy to make the companies, who have not fulfiled the roll out obligations, as parties, and then it will hear the matter along with the CPIL petition. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the CPIL, elaborated the grounds for the cancellation of the 2G licenses.

The bench also questioned the silence of TRAI, which is the highest regulatory authority in the telecom sector, on the issue of alleged delay in fulfilling roll-out obligations of the companies which were issued 2G spectrum licenses.

While one petition was filed jointly on 14th of December by various civil societies such as Centre for Public Interest Litigation, Telecom Watchdog and Common Cause another was filed by Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy on January 4.

Several eminent persons like former chief election commissioners J M Lyngdoh, T S Krishnamurthy and N Gopalaswami and former Central Vigilance Commissioner P Shankar are also petitioners in the petition filed by civil societies.

The second petition was filed after the apex court on an earlier plea by Swamy decided to monitor the ongoing probe into the scam by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate.
Citing two judgements by the Delhi High Court and the CAG's report on the issue of spectrum allocation, the two petitions have alleged that the process of the spectrum allocation was marred by "multiple illegalities, corruption and favouritism."

Citing the CAG report, they said 85 of the 122 licences were given to companies which were not even eligible and as many as 343 applications were not even considered by the DoT.

The petitions have also pointed out that even the sectoral regulator has recommended cancellation of 69 out of the 122 licences as the licencees have failed to roll out their services as stipulated by the condition on which they were given the licences.

The petitions said internationally, in most legal systems, transactions tainted by bribery or corruption or made in violation of established norms and procedures are considered illegal and unenforceable.

Source - http://www.deccanherald.com/content/127880/sc-issues-notice-govt-cancellation.html