Discussion on new policy for spectrum sale
New Delhi: Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Saturday held a meeting with his senior Cabinet colleagues and discussed the impact of the recent Supreme Court judgement of cancelling 122 2G licenses in the telecom sector and the way forward.
The meeting was attended by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister P Chidambaram, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal and Law Minister Salman Khurshid, Attorney General GE Vahanvati and Telecom Secretary R Chandrashekhar.
”We had a presentation in which salient features of judgement were discussed. It was an exercise in informing the Prime Minister and the group of what happened in court,” Sibal told reporters after the meeting.
The meeting was significant as the Supreme Court’s judgement is likely to affect FDI in the Telecom Sector.
Foreign investors Norwegian Telenor and Russian Sistema, who have invested Rs 14,000 crore and Rs 12,000 crore respectively in the Telecom sector, were asking the government to safeguard their investments.
The Telecom Secretary briefed the meeting on the impact of the judgement on the telecom sector.
”The Telecom Secretary gave a full presentation on what the judgement is about, what it means and when we move forward…Ultimately all the matters have to go to Cabinet so government has to be informed before that in order to take a decision,” Sibal added.
The Supreme Court had, earlier this month, ordered cancellation of 122 2G licenses allocated during the regime of former Telecom Minister A Raja.
According to sources, the government has asked for final opinion of the Attorney General Goolam Essaji Vahanvati on whether to file a review petition against the order.
The government is expected to take a final call after it gets the Attorney General’s opinion.
The cabinet ministers also had a discussion on whether to move a leave petition on the apex court’s order on mandatory prosecution within four months.
The meeting also took up the discussion on what could be a new policy for spectrum sale and the need to frame new laws, sources said.
Norway and Russia had urged the government’s intervention to safeguard the investments made by their state-run firms — Telenor and Sistema.
While Norway has already initiated action through diplomatic channels, Russian Communications Minister Igor Shchyogolev is expected to visit India shortly to take up the issue. (UNI)
