The Delhi High Court has said that Idea Cellular suppressed certain documents while getting approval for its merger with Spice Communications.
Meanwhile, the operator stated that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) furnished only parts of its correspondence with it to the High Court and obtained a stay on the merger without providing any prior notice.
However, Justice Manmohan of the High Court said that Idea had failed to provide relevant communication relating to the merger.
Prior to this, DoT had alleged that the two companies had suppressed information while securing the court?s approval for the merger. Later, the court stayed the merger.
Meanwhile, Idea and Spice refuted DoT?s allegations on grounds that DoT had not furnished all correspondence between them before securing the stay order.
Idea maintained that for the merger of companies, it had to seek the court’s approval, and for the merger of licences, DoT’s go-ahead was required.
DoT has also issued a cancellation order to Idea for the overlapping of licences in the same circle, in view of the merger announced in 2008.
The companies alleged high handedness on DoT?s part for selectively withholding their 3G spectrum, issuing show cause and demand notices, and then obtaining an ex-parte order on the three year old merger.
Idea is facing charges of violation of terms and conditions and has claimed that it did not intend to retain the unused spectrum and had offered to surrender the overlapping licence.
