New Delhi:
The Supreme Court will on Friday take up the Presidential Reference filed by the government last month asking if its judgement in the 2G case makes auctioning of natural resources compulsory.
With many telecom companies challenging the cancellation of their licenses by the Supreme Court, the government wants complete clarity on that landmark judgement. The Department of Telecom feels that the judgement has ramifications on several other sectors. So the government has put together a list of 14 questions that will be delivered to a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court where the matter will be debated. The queries include whether a process of auction has to be followed in the allocation of all natural resources, and if so, whether that amounts to the court interfering with the government's work by setting policy.
In February, two Supreme Court judges cancelled 122 telecom licenses issued in 2008 by then Telecom Minister A Raja. The judges said that Mr Raja had manipulated the rules to show undue favours to companies that he allegedly conspired with - he is in jail for selling licenses at throwaway prices to ineligible firms. But while Mr Raja may have twisted the first-come-first-serve policy that was the rule at the time, the judges also said that this method of allocating natural resources like spectrum is "fundamentally flawed." Only an auction, they said, ensures transparency and fair pricing. The government was also told to re-allocate the cancelled mobile licenses within four months.
The Supreme Court admitted the government's review petition filed earlier seeking clarification on the process of auction to be followed on the cancelled licenses. But it rejected 10 other petitions filed by telecom companies seeking review of its February order.
The government's follow-up questions will be put to the Supreme Court in the form of a Presidential Reference - on the advice of the government, the President of the country seeks advice from the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
The government wants clarity on whether the orders on an auction are equivalent to policy-setting and if so, it wants to know to what extent the courts can give directions that over-lap with the government's work.
The Presidential Reference also asks if licenses issued before 2008 have to be cancelled since they were not auctioned. The government also wants to know the impact of the judgement on the licenses given for 3G spectrum.