Govt seeks 4 months more from SC to auction 2G spectrum

The Centre today moved the Supreme Court seeking an additional four-month extension of the court's August 31 deadline to complete the process of fresh auctioning of 2G spectrum licences.

An application submitted to the apex court by the Ministry of Telecom said it needed time till November 12 to start the auction and another 40 days to complete the procedure and allocate licenses and spectrum.

The decision to approach the apex court for extension of August 31 deadline to complete the auction of the raidowaves was taken at a meeting of the Empowered Group of Ministers on telecom on August 7.

The application said the entire exercise would be completed in three months and 23 days.

The court on August 24 had extended its original June 2 deadline to August 31, 2012, refusing to grant 400 days to the government to complete the process of fresh auctioning.

A bench of justices G S Singhvi and K S Radhakrishnan had also said the existing licences for 2G spectrum will continue to be operational till September 7, 2012.

The apex court on February 2 had cancelled 122 licences for the 2G spectrum and had directed their fresh auctioning by June 2.