Tata Teleservices said on Sunday that the GSM operators were misinterpreting the Supreme Court's order on cancelling 2G licences.
The GSM players, led by their lobby group Cellular Operators Association of India, had demanded cancellation of Tata Tele’s GSM permits on grounds that this was part of the court’s February 2012 order on the 2G scam.
Misinterpretation
“The claim made by COAI is an attempt to deliberately misinterpret Supreme Court’s judgement dated February 2, 2012.
COAI’s letter is an effort to present a misleading picture in a bid to subserve interests of COAI members,” Tata Teleservices said in a statement.
The COAI had written to the Department of Telecom along with a legal opinion from top lawyer Rohinton F. Nariman on this issue.
Gsm spectrum
The Supreme Court, in its order on February 2012, had said that all licences issued on or after January 10, 2008, and subsequent allocation of spectrum are declared illegal and are quashed.
The problem is that Tata Tele got its licences much before 2008 but got GSM spectrum after this date.
The company has argued that the apex court’s verdict was applicable only to those companies that got both the licence and the spectrum on or after January 2008.
legal opinion
Nariman, in his legal opinion given to COAI, has pointed out that Tata Tele’s GSM permits were part of the decision-making process under the then Communication Minister A. Raja, which was specifically mentioned in the press release issued by the DoT on January, 10, 2008.
“The Supreme Court has cancelled all spectrum allocations pursuant to the two press releases dated January 10, 2008, and no exception has been made with respect to Tata Teleservices,” the legal opinion stated.