New Delhi:
The Supreme Court will decide today whether to admit a government petition seeking a review of its 2G judgements delivered earlier this year; the government has contended that policy decisions should not be open to judicial review.
Apart from the Centre's review petition, those filed by various telecom companies and former Telecom Minister A Raja seeking reconsideration of the 2G judgements, come up in court today. These review petitions will not be heard in open court, but will be decided in the chambers of the Judges - Justice GS Singhvi and Justice KS Radhakrishnan.
On February 2, the Supreme Court had cancelled 122 licenses granted in 2008 by A Raja, who was Telecom Minister then, for mobile network licences and accompanying second generation or 2G spectrum; the two judges who delivered the verdict said all national resources must be distributed only through an auction. The licences revoked by the court had been allocated on a first-come-first-served basis by Mr Raja. The judges had said this policy was "fundamentally flawed" partly because it presented an advantage to anyone with access to the "corridors of power."
In another verdict delivered on January 31, the Supreme Court had fixed an outer time limit of four months for deciding the issue of sanction for prosecution of corrupt public servants, including one month for the Attorney-General to give his opinion to the government in certain cases.
The Centre in its review petition pleads that the court's order gets into policy-making, which is beyond the limits of judicial review. It also says that the Supreme Court order upsets a level-playing field and adversely affects competition. It has justified the first-come-first-served policy in allotting telecom licences and has contended that an auction will hit promotion of tele-density in rural and semi-urban areas of the country, since it will push up mobility prices.
The Centre has also sought clarification on whether all national resources should be auctioned, drawing from the top court's judgement on auction of 2G licences. It has also said in its review petition that sanction for prosecution will arise only at the stage of cognizance by a court after filing complaint.
Mr Raja, now in jail for over a year for allegedly masterminding the 2G swindle, in his review petition has said he has not been given an opportunity by the court and that is a violation of basic principles of natural justice. He has also said that he is being condemned without being heard.
The 122 licences that were cancelled by the Supreme Court are at the heart of what's believed to be India's biggest scam. As Telecom Minister, Mr Raja allegedly granted sweetheart deals to companies who conspired with him - not only did he give them licenses at throwaway prices, but the spectrum they needed was free. Many of the executives of these companies were arrested last year and spent several months in jail before being granted bail.