In the wake of the Supreme Court judgement on allocation of natural resources, BJP on Thursday said competitive bidding through auction is the only method to ensure fair play as any discretionary quota is likely to open the floodgates of corruption.
Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley batted for competitive bidding in allocation of all natural resources-other than air and water for commercial use.
“Water and air cannot be auctioned as they are critical for life support. BJP is clear that fair criteria should be adopted for allocation of natural resources. Competitive bidding should be the practice in allocating natural resources for commercial use”, he said adding “discretion without auctions will open the floodgates of corruption”.
ADVERTISEMENT
In response to a presidential reference following the apex court verdict on 2G spectrum allocation, the Supreme Court on Thursday said the auction route was not the only method for allocating natural resources.
The five-judge apex court bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia said auction could be a better option where the aim is maximisation of revenue but then “every method other than auction of natural resources cannot be shut down”.