NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed review petitions by mobile carriers impacted by the court’s order in February to revoke all telecoms licences awarded in a scandal-tainted 2008 2G spectrum sale, the court’s website showed.
Mobile operators including Telenor and Sistema’s Indian joint ventures and Indian companies Idea Cellular and Tata Teleservices that are set to lose some or all of their permits in early June had appealed to the court to review the verdict.
The court, however, accepted the government’s review petition for hearing on April 13. The government is seeking a review of some observations made by the court in its order, but did not challenge the licence cancellation.
The Supreme Court was told that Home Minister P. Chidambaram, in his earlier capacity of finance minister, overruled officials who favoured an upward revision of the 2G telecom licence fee in 2008.
The officials maintained that either 2G licences should be auctioned or there should be an upward revision in their prices and they should not be allocated in 2008 at 2001 prices, the court was told by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL).
“The officials of the finance ministry kept on saying that you cannot give spectrum in 2008 at 2001 prices,” the CPIL told an apex court special bench of Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice K.S.P. Radhakrishnan hearing the 2G case.
Arguing for the CPIL, counsel Prashant Bhushan told the court that both Chidambaram and Raja knew that the companies being allotted spectrum would use it to earn premium by way of merger and acquisition of these firms.(Agencies)
