New Delhi:
A five judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court will today begin hearing the Centre's Presidential Reference that is seeking to know if its judgement in the 2G case, makes it mandatory for the Central government to 'auction' all natural resources.
A Presidential Reference is a constitutional provision by which the government can seek the opinion on any issue from the Supreme Court by a reference moved through the President.
The Supreme Court then gives its opinion after giving a detailed hearing.
This seeking of opinion comes following the court's 2G verdict, which cancelled 122 telecom licences. During the verdict in the 2G case, the judges had said said the first come-first serve method followed by Mr Raja for allocating natural resources like spectrum is "fundamentally flawed." Only an auction, they said, ensures transparency and fair pricing. The government was also told to re-allocate the cancelled mobile licenses within four months.
Through the Presidential reference, the Centre has sought the opinion and clarification from the Supreme Court on whether auctioning of natural resources, as directed in 2G verdict, applies to all natural resources.
The government had also wanted clarity on whether the orders on an auction are equivalent to policy-setting and if so, it wanted to know to what extent the courts can give directions that over-lap with the government's work.
The Presidential Reference also asks if licenses issued before 2008 have to be cancelled since they were not auctioned. The government also wants to know the impact of the judgement on the licenses given for 3G spectrum.
After the 2G verdict, the Centre made its stand clear in the affidavit filed recently. They said all natural resources couldn't be auctioned as it will affect the growth of the economy and that the judiciary cannot go into policy decisions of the government.