Ahead of the 2G spectrum auction on March 4, the Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed all proceedings challenging the Government’s tender conditions pending before various High Courts.
Transferring the petitions from High Courts of Allahabad, Karnataka, and Delhi, the apex bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Adarsh Kumar Goel decided to give top priority to hearing the case and is expected to give a verdict before March 3, the penultimate day before auction is to take place.
“If necessary we will pass order during the Holi vacation on March 3… till then there will be stay of further proceedings in the High Courts,” the Bench said. The order came during hearing of a set of appeals filed by Centre against an interim order passed by Tripura High Court allowing Bharti Hexacom and Reliance to submit two bids for a total bandwidth of 8.8 Mhz in the North-East circle.
last week, proceedings in Tripura High Court were stayed by the apex bench at the instance of the Centre represented by Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi. He argued that High Courts should not interfere with the auction process which is an “informed policy decision” having huge bearing on government revenues. Referring to the auction due for March 4, he informed the Court that Rs1 lakh crore revenue is at stake.
The AG cited a TRAI report that for optimum utility, a minimum of 5MHz was necessary. Since the quantum of spectrum available in North-Eastern States was 8.8 MHz, Rohatgi stated that the HC order was not workable as both Bharti and Reliance will have a minimum spectrum of 4.4 Mhz each, which is less than the prescribed level of 5 MHz.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi who appeared for Bharti Hexacon, informed the Court that spectrum could be fragmented into 4.4 MHz each if a service provider succeeds in getting entire 8.8 MHz.