The Centre on Tuesday faced a tough time in the Supreme Court which questioned the Telecommunication Ministry’s decision for advancing the cut-off date for allocation of 2G spectrum to new telecom operators.
A bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan queried why the cut-off was first extended from September 25 to October 1 and then the decision was reversed.
“Why was the date extended from September 25 to October 1 when there were already large number of applications,” the bench also comprising Justices J.M. Panchal and B.S. Chauhan said when the Centre submitted that the first deadline of September 25 was extended till October 1 and again it was brought back to earlier cut-off date.
The Court made the observation while hearing a petition filed by the Centre challenging the Delhi High Court’s order which had quashed its decision of advancing the cut-off date and had directed it to consider application of telecom operators which had applied for spectrum allocation till October 1.
