Supreme Court lifts stay, govt can finalise spectrum auction result

The petitions have been filed by major telecom players, including Bharti Hexacom Ltd and Reliance Telecom Ltd, which have challenged the legality of the design of the Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) for the spectrum and the conditions therein.

According to Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, the order allowing the government to finalise the auction result will lead to upfront inflow of over Rs 28,000 crore in the state exchequer from successful bidders.

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On February 26, a bench led by Justice Dipak Misra had allowed the March 4 scheduled commencement of auction of spectrum of bands 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2100 MZ but directed that the results should not be finalised without its approval.

On Thursday, the bench observed that it may not be proper to “block so much of money”, especially when the government was agreeable to the idea that final allocation will be subject to orders passed by the top court.

“We are inclined to modify the order to the extent that the Union of India would be at liberty to finalise the auction and proceed thereafter, but all successful bidders shall be intimated that the said finalisation is subject to the final result of the special leave petition, as well as the transferred cases,” the bench said.

It took on record a submission by Rohatgi that successful bidders shall be intimated to get themselves added as parties in the case to defend their rights effectively.

While fixing the matter for further hearing on April 16, the bench asked all parties to file counter-affidavits and other documents to let the court hear the matter finally on the merits of the government’s policy document. Earlier, Rohatgi had said that the success of the auction showed that the design of NIT was workable and sustainable in law. “The world is watching us… give me liberty to finalise the auction,” Rohatgi told the bench.

Reliance Telecom’s advocate P Chidambaram countered this by saying that competitive bidding was not really competitive but compulsive bidding for survival. He said the amount to be collected from the auction was incorrect and “the entire design of NIT is gloriously faulty”.