NEW DELHI, Sept 27: Holding the Centre’s 2G Presidential Reference to it as maintainable, the Supreme Court today clarified that its auction order in the 2G case was only restricted to telecom spectrum and not for all natural resources. A five-Judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice SH Kapadia also clarified that its opinion has no bearing on the 2G order of February 2, 2012 delivered by a bench of Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly who had cancelled 122 2G licences and had said natural resources should be distributed through a public auction. While upholding the Presidential Reference, the Constitution bench said that public good was above revenue maximisation. Apart from Chief Justice Kapadia,who retires on September 29, the Constitution Bench also comprised of Justices DK Jain, JS Khehar, Dipak Misra and Ranjan Gogoi. The Centre had sought answers to 8 questions through the Presidential Reference moved under Article 43 of the Constitution by then President Pratibha Patil but the court has answered only two questions. Through the April 12 Presidential Reference, the government had raised eight questions, including whether there could be judicial interference in policy matters, vis-a-vis disposal of natural resources and investments made by foreign investors under multi and bilateral agreements. “Whether the judgement lays down that the permissible method for disposal of all natural resources across all sectors and in all circumstances is by the conduct of auction,” the Reference had stated. “Whether the court holds that within the permissible scope of judicial review that the policy is flawed, is the court not obliged to take into account investment made under the said policy including the investment made by foreign investors under the multi and bilateral agreements,” it said. The Presidential Reference had also sought the top court’s opinion on “whether the judgement is required to be given retrospective effect so as to unsettle the licences issued for 2G spectrum and allocated after 1994 till 2008.” It had also touched upon the 3G spectrum allocated through “auction” and wanted to know the implications of the 2G spectrum case judgement on it. “Whether 3G spectrum acquired through the auction in 2010 by entities whose (2G) licences have been quashed in the judgement stands withdrawn,”, the Reference had asked. The decision to move the Presidential Reference was taken by the Union Cabinet at its meeting held on April 10 under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The meeting had given its nod to Telecom Ministry’s proposal to seek the Supreme Court’s opinion on various issues arising out of its February 2 judgment. A bench of Justices Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly had on February 2, 2012 cancelled all 122 2G licenses issued by former Telecom Minister A Raja in January 2008. The two-judge bench, in its verdict, had also observed that auction was best suited route for allocating natural resources like telecom spectrum because the policy of first-come-first-serve was flawed. India’s national auditor CAG had estimated that allocation of the 2G spectrum in 2008 at rates determined in 2001 had caused a presumptive loss of up to Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the state exchequer. (UNI)
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