SC notice to Centre, telcos on cancellation of 2G licences

New Delhi, Jan 10 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Monday
decided to examine the alleged illegalities in allocation of
2G spectrum during the tenure of former Telecom Minister A
Raja asking the Centre and telecom companies to explain why
the licences be not cancelled.

"Why won't the licences be cancelled by this court" a
bench of Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly said while
questioning the role of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
(TRAI) which remained silent when the telecom companies failed
to fulfill the roll-out obligation for the 2G spectrum.
It made TRAI a party to the petition and issued notices
to the Department of Telecom (DoT)and 11 companies which
allegedly did not fulfill the roll-out obligations as per the
terms and conditions of allocation of the spectrum.
The court took note of the submission that TRAI did not
react when the telecom companies, which were issued licences
in January 2008, failed to roll out the spectrum within a year
of allocation.
"Why did TRAI not take action? Why was it silent for
around one year and seven months? TRAI is treated as the
highest regulatory authority in telecom sector and even in
terms of the consumer. What was it doing?," the Bench said.
The Bench was hearing the petition filed by an NGO,
Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), seeking
cancellation of all licences issued allegedly flouting all
norms, and which according to the Comptroller and Auditor
General of India (CAG) report, has caused a loss of Rs 1.76
lakh crore to the national exchequer.
However, it refused to be drawn into the controversy
in the wake of the statement of Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal
who has disputed the CAG's figure of Rs 1.76 lakh crore.
"We cannot take cognizance of that as it is not part of
our record here," the Bench said.
The Bench was also informed that those companies which
had failed to roll-out the services in stipulated time had
been regularised after the payment of penalties.
However, it took note of the submission of CPIL's
advocate Prashant Bhushan that TRAI has taken cognizance of
some of the companies' failure to meet the roll-out obligation
and a communication has been sent to DoT regarding this.
"After considering submission of the counsel that since
TRAI has sent a letter dated November 15, 2010, to Secretary,
DoT, which indicated that many companies have not complied
with the roll-out obligation and not started the services. We
deem it fit to entertain the petition," it said.
"Accordingly, TRAI, through its Secretary, is impleaded
as a party," it said while issuing 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. MORE
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