A Presidential Reference was on Thursday filed in the Supreme Court seeking its opinion on the consequences of its landmark 2G spectrum case order.
The apex court was asked to clarify the impact of its order on telecom licences granted in 1994, 2001 and 2003-07.
It also sought to know if the apex court order will impact the dual technology licences granted in 2007 and 2008.
Besides, the Reference wanted to know the effect of the judgment on the 3G licences of those companies whose 2G licences have been scrapped due to the apex court order.
The Reference was signed by the President, Ms Pratibha Patil, and approved by the Union Cabinet.
It points out that since the apex court had cancelled 122 licences that were issued under a First-Come-First-Served (FCFS) Policy (after January 2008, and during the tenure of the then Telecom Minister Mr A. Raja), doubts now arise as to the status of licences issued before 2008 under a similar FCFS regime.
The apex court has “not addressed the other licences,” it said.
This in effect means asking whether the licences issued under the previous BJP-led NDA regime would also need to be scrapped.
Referring to the apex court's insistence on mandatorily auctioning all natural resources including spectrum, the Presidential Reference said doubts also arise regarding the pricing of spectrum granted to earlier licencees.
It wanted to know from the apex court how these issues – including the impact of the court's insistence on the auction route on other sectors – should be dealt with.
It also sought to know whether auctioning is the only permissible method for distribution of natural resources.
The reference questioned whether the insistence on the auction route runs contrary to earlier apex court judgments.
According to the apex court, auctioning such resources was the most appropriate method as the Government's FCFS policy was fundamentally flawed.
The Presidential Reference also asks whether the apex court judgment amounted to the judiciary interfering in matters regarding policy.
It also expressed apprehension that a judicial order cancelling a Government policy may affect the investment climate and the Foreign Direct Investment inflow.
The other questions asked in the Reference include: whether it is necessary or obligatory for the Government to withdraw spectrum allocated to all existing licencees or to charge for the same with retrospective effect. And if so, on what basis and from what date, it asks.
Besides, it asked: Whether during auction, it will be permissible for the Government to make provision for allocation of spectrum from time to time at the auction discovered price; and make provision for spectrum allocation at auction related prices in bands where there may be inadequate or no competition.