Supreme Court after hearing petition of a host of telecom operators questioning certain provisions of the notice inviting tender issued by the government on January 9, has refused to stay spectrum auction in all 17 circles scheduled for March 4, but has told the Union government not to finalize the allotment of spectrum even if the successful bidder paid up the bid amount.
There were various petitions from Idea Cellular at Allahabad HC, Sistema Shyam and Reliance at Delhi HC, Bharti Airtel at Karnataka HC and Bharti Hexacom and Reliance at Tripura HC. The SC bench has transferred all pending petitions before various high courts to itself on a transfer petition filed by the Union government and posted the petitions for hearing on March 26. It has ordered that no high court or any other forum would entertain matters relating to auction of spectrum.
The bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Adarsh Goel refused to stay the auction and clarified that even if the successful bidder made full payment for the spectrum, it would not be entitled to claim any equity over spectrum till the court heard the aggrieved petitioners and passed orders. The court further stated that telecom companies participating in the auction will not claim any benefit on the basis of equities and to avoid such claims, an order in this regard would be published on its website.
The government expects to raise Rs 80,000-1,00,000 crore through the sale of spectrum in the 800-, 900-, 1,800- and 2,100-MHz bands. Telecom companies have been questioning the government’s rationale for fixing 5MHz as minimum criteria for bidding and the procedure for auctioning of remaining 3.8 MHz in the North East region.