Raja moves Supreme Court to recall judgment cancelling 2G licences

Former telecom minister A. Raja on Friday moved the Supreme Court, asking it to recall its 2 Febraury judgement cancelling 122 telecom licences that had been granted during his term.

In his petition, Raja, who is currently in jail for allegedly causing biasing the licence grant process in favour of applicants that resulted in loss to the national exchequer, said the apex court has condemned him without hearing him and that the judgement is against the principles of natural justice.

The former telecom minister, who arbitrarily changed the grant process from an auction to first-come, first-served one and sold licences at throwaway prices, said the court should have given him a chance to present his case. He has claimed that the judgment has a lot of observations against him but for which he had not been heard in court.

He also claimed that all the documents pertaining to the case are with the trial court and that the apex court passed its order without examining them

On 2 February, the apex court cancelled 122 telecom licences held by various operators and called for a fresh auction of the licences within four months.

In its order, the court found that the licences had been granted during Raja’s tenure as telecom minister in an “unconstitutional and arbitrary” manner It also fined six telecom firms.

The court’s decision threw the telecom industry into turmoil, with at least two foreign players – Norway’s Telenor and Abu Dhabi-based Etisalat -- taking a hit on their bottomline.

Telenor wrote down Rs 3,570 crore in goodwill while Etisalat wrote off $827 million as part losses from its India operations.

Both firms also severed ties with their Indian partners. Telenor said it would look for a new partner and sought indemnity charges from realty major Unitech, which challenged the move. Etisalat is seeking compensation from DB Group, also a large player in the real estate sector, for so-called deception.

On Thursday, the Company aw Board returned both Telenor and Unitech’s applications on technical grounds. Earlier today, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said Etisalat was still interested in doing business in India.

At least two Indian firms, Videocon and Idea Cellular, have sought clarification from the Supreme Court on whether the decision would apply to them, while Tata Teleservices has filed a review petition. On Thursday, the Department of Telecom also filed a Clarification Application in the court on the 2G auction process.