The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the Centre and seven telecom firms on a plea for cancellation of 2G spectrum beyond 2x4.5 MHz for metros and 2x4.4 MHz for other circles, allocated to the firms without additional fees.
A bench of Justices G.S. Singhvi and S.J. Mukhopadhyay granted four weeks time to file replies on the petition, which pleaded that its separate plea to cancel additional spectrum allocated to these firms, pending with the Delhi High Court since 2008, be shifted to the Supreme Court.
The telecom companies which have been issued notices are Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Telecom, Idea Cellular, Loop Mobile (India), Spice Communications and Aircel Cellular.
The petitioner, Telecom Watchdog, a non-governmental organisation, pleaded that its case be heard by the Supreme Court as a similar matter is pending here.
In a similar matter, the Supreme Court on January 30, 2012 had sought the replies of the Centre and telecom firms on a plea challenging the allocation of 2G spectrum beyond the entry level of 4.4 MHz and 6.2 MHz without charging additional fees from them.
It had also issued a notice to the Ministry of Finance, the Department of Telecom, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and various telecom firms including Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Loop and Tata on a plea for reclaiming all the spectrum quantity allocated beyond the contracted quantum of 6.2 MHz from the telecom firms.
Keywords: 2G spectrum scam, additional spectrum, Airtel, Vodafone, Telecom Watchdog
