SC accepts GoI review petition on 2G cancellation

The Supreme Court has admitted the government of India's review petition on the cancellation of 2G licenses and is going to be heard on May 1, reports CNBC-TV18's Rituparna Bhuyan.

The review petition by the government actually cited 20 grounds and a three point rationale and that has been accepted and admitted by the Supreme Court. The three point rationale states that there would be absurd results because of the 2G cancellation order. The petitioner, that is the government, because of this order will have to formulate a single policy for distribution of all natural resources. It all says that since the new entrants would be burdened with a very high acquisition fee, new entrants will not be able to penetrate the telecom in urban and rural areas as intended by the telecom policy, which will adversely impact competition in the sector. In the 20 grounds that were cited by the government, the judgment is that the courts cannot review merits of policy decision by the executive and that the policy was flawed and lopsided. However, the government did not challenge the cancellation of the licenses. Only by the beginning of May will it become clear on the grounds and logic based on which the government has filed this application. This is of course a case of national importance, but the court did not give any clarification regarding whether there will be any daily hearings. The fact that it has been admitted and that it will be now heard on May 1 itself means that the government will put forth its reasons for salvaging certain aspects of the review petition. In addition to that, the other parties in this case, basically Subramaniam Swamy and TTIL, will also put in their logic against this particular review petition. So we will have to wait and see how this matter pans out in the coming days. There is a separate clarificatory application that has been filed in the matter of the 2G auction. Today it was not taken up, and government councils told the court that that’s a separate matter that seeks clarification on scheduling etc. It is the government’s view that as far as the review petition itself is concerned, the observations made regarding points like first come first serve and auctioning need to be reviewed and clarified by the Supreme Court. The bench that is going to be hearing the case includes Mr Singhvi. It also has a new judge Mr Radhakrishnan who has come in. So one of the judges from the license cancellation order may have retired, that’s Mr Ganguly, but we have a separate judge who has come in. Watch the accompanying video for more details.. Also Read: Govt has to stick to 2G auction for now: Harish SalveAuction only for use of resources by pvt cos: Bhushan