SC issued Notice to Central Govt, DoT, TRAI & 11 Telecos

The Supreme Court of India on 10 January 2011 issued notice to the Central Government as well as 11 telecom companies regarding the suspension of 2G spectrum licenses allotted during the tenure of former telecom minister A. Raja. The directions were issued on a PIL filed by a non-government organisation Centre for Public Interest Litigation. Supreme Court bench comprising Justices G.S. Singhvi and A.K. Ganguly asked the Centre to produce valid reason why the licenses of these companies labelled with charges of not fulfilling the necessary conditions of holding spectrum license must not be cancelled.

Telecom regulator TRAI and Department of Telecommunications (DoT) were also issued show cause notice for not acting against defaulters despite knowing the irregularities. TRAI had in a letter to the secretary of DoT on 15 November 2010 mentioned the names of some operators which failed to live up to the conditions of licensing and did not commence the services on time.

The apex Court asked TRAI to clarify within three weeks its stance on why it stayed quiet for the whole 1 year 7 months despite knowing the delay in commencement of services from the companies.