SC dismisses telcos appeal in 2G licence dispute

Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed an appeal by Russian conglomerate Sistema’s Indian unit challenging the court’s order last year to revoke its permits after a massive scandal.

The court also rejected a so-called curative petition by Videocon Telecommunications.

The companies had filed separate curative petitions with the Supreme Court after their earlier appeals last year seeking a review of the licence cancellation order were rejected.

The apex court also denied permission to Raja to file his curative petition. The companies whose petitions were rejected are Videocon Telecommunications Ltd, Sistema Shyam Teleservices (SSTL), Tata Teleservices Ltd (TTSL) and Idea Cellular.

A bench of Chief Justice Altamas Kabir and justices P Sathasivam and G S Singhvi rejected the plea of the telecom firms and Raja saying “no case is made out”. “We have gone through the curative petitions and the

relevant documents. In our opinion, no case is made out within the parameters indicated in the decision of this Court in Rupa Ashok Hurra vs Ashok Hurra & Anr. Hence, the curative petitions are dismissed.

“As far as curative petition of Raja is concerned, permission to file curative petitions is rejected,” it said adding “Consequently, applications for stay and appropriate directions are rejected.” A curative petition is filed after the dismissal of review petition and is decided in the chambers of judges.

Earlier on April 3, 2012, the apex court had dismissed the review petitions of Videocon Telecommunications , S Tel , SSTL, TTSL, Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu), Etisalat DB Telecom and Idea Cellular.

A bench of justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly (since retired), on February 2, 2012, had cancelled the 122 2G licences holding as unconstitutional the policy of first-come-first-served.

Reacting to the dismissal of the curative petition, SSTL in a statment said,“It is unfortunate that the Supreme Court has not admitted the curative petition of SSTL. “The company believes that it has been unfairly penalised in the February 2, 2012 order by the Supreme Court. While SSTL remains committed to its operations, however, it would be up to the shareholders to decide the go forward strategy of the company.”

With inputs from Agencies