A Supreme Court bench, comprising Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly has said the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG)?s report on 2G spectrum allocation cannot serve as the only basis for cancellation of licenses, according to news reports. It added that any decision taken by the government on this issue will be subject to the outcome of the petitions pending before it.
Prior to this, the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, along with other civil societies and individuals had appealed to the Supreme Court to restrain the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) from regularising the 2G licenses of operators who have failed to meet roll-out obligations, by imposing a penalty.
In their joint petition, the civil societies had said that these licences, allocated by A. Raja, former Minister of Communications and IT, were marred by multiple illegalities, corruption and favouritism and the government is attempting to protect them by charging a small penalty.
The petition, which is listed for hearing on February 1, 2011, also stated that in Loop Telecom?s case, there was a detailed complaint as to how it was a front company for Essar and therefore was ineligible for the licence. In the case of Swan, a detailed complaint was filed on grounds that it was a front company for the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG). In both the cases, a clean chit was given to both these entities by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
The other petitioners in this case are Telecom Watchdog, Common Cause, former Chief Election Commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh, T.S. Krishnamurthy and N. Gopalaswami, along with former Central Vigilance Commissioner P. Shankar.
