The Supreme Court (SC) of India has said that it won't entertain the government's request to allow administrative allocation of spectrum in special cases. The government has been discussing whether the satcom companies should be allocated spectrum via a non-auction route. While some have an issue with it, the satcom (satellite communication) companies are in support of the notion. The Supreme Court registrar has denied this request of the government, and thus, the auction will only be allocated to entities in India via an auction route.
The apex court had ruled in 2012 after the 2G scam case that to keep things transparent, spectrum will only be allocated via an auction in the country. The SC registrar said, "I refuse to receive the present miscellaneous application (MA), as it does not disclose any reasonable cause for being entertained."
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The registrar said that the applicant (government) is looking for a review of the order passed by the SC. However, since there aren't any reasonable grounds to entertain the application, the SC has rejected it. Further, plenty of time has elapsed since the last ruling on the matter, hence, to bring it up right now does not make any sense.
“I am of the considered view that the application is misconceived and liable to be declined to be received,” the registrar said, according to an ET report. The government was looking for a way to get the order (related to the 2G Spectrum Scam case) of the SC reviewed so that administrative allocation of spectrum could be allowed. But the SC has outright refused to entertain the application submitted by the government and thus, it can considered a setback for the center which has been eyeing to provide a boost to the private satcom sector in India.
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Companies such as Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea would be elated to hear the development as they were against the allocation of airwaves administratively. Both companies are of the view that an auction is the only fair route to allocate spectrum.
