Government dealing with 2G auction in very casual manner: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court today said the Centre was dealing with the issue of auctioning of 2G spectrum as per the court’s order in a very casual manner.

The court today slammed the Centre after an affidavit—which explained why the entire spectrum freed after the cancellation of 2G licences given away by former telecom minister A. Raja was not put up for auction—was filed by a lower level office and not the secretary of the Department of Telecommunications.

The DoT today submitted an affidavit signed by the under-secretary, which the court did not accept, saying that the affidavit should be signed by the secretary. The court has given the DoT two days to file the affidavit afresh.

"This affidavit can't be accepted. The under-secretary is not competent at all. This is deliberate attempt by the DoT. It is a serious matter. The government is very casual in dealing with this issue," the court said.

When the court asked why the entire spectrum was not being auctioned as per its orders, the government replied that the 900MHz band was not available.