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Journalism of Courage
The Centre’s plea seeking review of the Supreme Court’s 2G ruling that natural resources should be allotted to private companies only through “auction” was today opposed in the apex court.
The NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL),on whose plea the apex court had started monitoring of probe in the 2G scam,submitted before a bench headed by Justice G S Singhvi that by not adopting auctioning process scarce resources like minerals are being given away at a fraction of their market price to private companies.
“No business is as profitable as the business of dealing in natural resources. Scarce resources like minerals are being given away at a fraction of their market price,thereby giving windfall profits to the corporates at the cost of the public exchequer,” the NGO said.
“The natural resources,today,are all scarce resources that are dwindling by the day,and every citizen needs to have access to these resources for development. All these resources have,therefore,acquired huge economic and commercial value,as is clear from the fact that the corporations that deal in them have become abnormally rich,” it said.
The CPIL’s response came in response to a notice issued by the bench while admitting the Centre’s review plea.
“The government in its review petition has failed to point out why it is opposed to auctioning scarce natural resources,and through what other methods it wishes to alienate them,” the NGO said.
The bench had on April 13 issued notices to the NGO,and Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy,seeking their response on government’s plea seeking review of the February 2 judgement by which the first-come-first-serve policy was held as flawed.
CPIL and Swamy were the petitioners on whose plea the apex court had passed a slew of directions including the cancellation of 122 2G licenses which were alloted during the tenure of former telecom minister A Raja.
The apex court on April 3 had decided to hear in open court government’s petition seeking review of its verdict limited to holding its first-come-first-serve policy as unconstitutional while cancelling 122 2G spectrum licences but had dismissed the remaining 10 petitions including that of seven telecom companies and Raja.
The government had sought review of the direction saying that the apex court has entered into the exclusive domain of the executive and beyond the limits of judicial review.
The review petition contended the apex court’s prescription of a single method for distribution of all natural resources,including spectrum,through “auction” route is contrary to the principle of separation of powers embodied in the Constitution.
