A Supreme Court bench, comprising Justices G.S. Singhvi and A.K. Ganguly have asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to produce the two letters written by the DoT on March 5, 2010, and April 15, 2010, concerning cancellation and restoration of S Tel?s licence, according to news reports. It is believed that S Tel had challenged the advancement of the cut-off date for allocation of spectrum on first-cum-first-serve basis in September 2007.
The bench also asked the DoT to submit the notification issued on April 11, 1989, for establishing the Telecom Commission. The court asked Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising to submit the documents by March 02, 2011, when it will continue the hearing on several petitions seeking cancellation of the spectrum allocated during the tenure of A. Raja, former Minister of Telecommunications and IT.
Prior to this, it is believed that S Tel had approached the Delhi High Court which had set aside the advancement of the cut-off date by DoT for allocation of spectrum. This was challenged by the DoT before the Supreme Court where the S-Tel changed its statement and said it would wait for its turn for spectrum. Thereafter, S-Tel was alloted spectrum for six circles and was denied for the remaining 16 circles.
This was pointed out by Prashant Bhushan, Supreme Court lawyer, who said that S Tel?s licence was restored after it compromised before the Supreme Court, alleging that DoT resorted to arm-twisting to soften the stand of the telecom operator.
