Telecom operators, which allegedly benefitted in 2G spectrum allocation, questioned the findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India?s (CAG) report and contended in the Supreme Court that the licences issued to them cannot be cancelled on its basis, according to news reports.
The six companies, Videocon, Uninor, Idea Cellular, Shyam Telelink Limited and Aircel, filed their affidavits in response to the court’s notices seeking their views on why their licence should not be cancelled for having benefited in 2G spectrum allocation when A. Raja was the Minister of Telecommunications and IT.
Prior to this, the court had, on January 10, 2011, issued notices to 11 telecom companies Etisalat, Uninor, Loop Telecom, Videocon, S-Tel, Allianz Infra, Idea Cellular, Tata Tele Services, Sistema Shyam TeleServices, Dishnet wireless and Vodafone-Essar.
Videocon, in its 16-page affidavit, said that the petition seeking cancellation of its licence was based on incorrect facts and it should be dismissed. It added that the CAG report contains flawed and misconceived findings regarding its eligibility in getting 2G spectrum. The company pleaded that the government has already served a notice for cancellation of licence and it has filed a detailed response to the Centre.
Uninor, in its 29-page affidavit, said the CAG report was made without seeking any clarification and explanation from it and so adverse inference cannot be drawn against it on the basis of the report.
