SC extends 2G auction deadline to Jan 11

Existing licences of 2G spectrum are entitled to operate upto Jan 18 next year.

The Supreme Court Monday extended the deadline for the Centre to complete fresh auction of the cancelled 2G spectrum licences until January 11,2013 but made it clear that the opinion of its Constitution Bench on the Presidential Reference in the case will not undo the 2G verdict which led to the 122 licences being cancelled.

A bench of Justices G S Singhvi and K S Radhakrishnan,while extending its previous deadline of August 31 for completing the auction process,also cautioned the government against breaching this new deadline. It said that failure to stick to this deadline would lead to contempt of court action against erring officials along with exemplary costs.

The court restrained any other court in the country from entertaining a plea against the auction process for the cancelled licenses. It also allowed existing operators to function until January 18,2013. The court had earlier extended its original deadline of June 2 to August 31,2012.

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Lawyer Prashant Bhushan,appearing for NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation and Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy,had requested the court to initiate contempt proceedings against the government for deliberate non-compliance.

Accusing the government of raising doubts on the 2G verdict through a Presidential Reference,Bhushan referred to minutes of the meeting of a July 24 EGoM and claimed it was decided to defer the spectrum pricing issue until the Constitution Bench gave its opinion.

This did not go down well with the bench and it said: We make it clear that any answers given to any Presidential Reference dont have any effect of undoing the judgment. Despite the Reference,they will have to implement the judgment… What does it mean that we will await the outcome of the Presidential Reference?

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