Supreme Court registry declines Centre’s ‘clarification’ plea on spectrum allocation

The application was an attempt to seek a review of the 2012 judgement in the 2G scam case in the guise of asking for a clarification, it said.

May 2, 2024 - 07:00
Supreme Court registry declines Centre’s ‘clarification’ plea on spectrum allocation

The Supreme Court’s registry refused to receive the Centre’s application seeking clarification of its 2012 judgement in the 2G scam case in which the court had directed that spectrum allocation to be done through auctions, The Indian Express reported on Thursday.

The alleged 2G spectrum allocation scam is said to have originated in 2008, when the Union Ministry of Communications and Information Technology sold 122 2G licences on a first-come-first-served basis.

The Supreme Court judgement in 2012 had mandated that public resources such as telecommunications spectrum be allocated through an auction. The verdict had also cancelled the licences that had been allocated to several companies by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the time.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court registry returned the Bharatiya Janata Party government’s plea and said in a note that it was an attempt to seek a review of the judgement in the guise of asking for a clarification, the newspaper reported. It also described the application as “misconceived”.

The court registry said that the Centre in May 2012 had withdrawn a review petition against the judgement and the latest application is trying to get the matter heard after a long delay, reported The Indian Express.

In its application, the Centre had said that spectrum was assigned not only for commercial...

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