SC upholds Delhi HC observations on cut off date advancement for 2G telecom licences

The Supreme Court yesterday accepted telecom service provider's S Tel's apology for having written to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on issues pending before the judges.

While rapping the company for its action the court had also demanded an explanation.

However the court also upheld S Tel's case on the manner in which it had been earlier denied a telecom licence for various areas (circles), in what is seen to be a blow to the government. The company's case on the matter had been earlier upheld by a bench of the High Court of Delhi and subsequently by a larger bench of the same court when government went in appeal. Finally the government had approached the SC.

The bench headed by Justice B Sudershan Reddy rejected

Attorney General G E Vahanvati's contention, that there would be serious implications for formulation of future policies of the government in spectrum allocation, if the HC judgment was allowed to stand.

The bench not only rejected the argument outright but also upheld the criticism by the HC of the manner the government had gone about the matter.