Inevitable action

When the twisting of prescribed rules and principles of fair play become the norm, it calls for drastic remedy.

The Supreme Court’s order on Thursday, quashing the allocation 122 spectrum licences under the 2G category to 11 companies, was an inevitable action to undo deliberate and serious omissions and commissions committed by the Manmohan Singh government. The judgment is a slap on the face of a government that has consistently maintained it had done no wrong until A Raja, its minister in charge of the telecom and IT ministry was sent to jail a year ago after being forced out of the ministry. The corporate world cannot absolve itself of its share of responsibility either.

The companies in question were guilty of manipulating the rules through people in positions of power to win lucrative licences and make huge profits.

On the face of it, the judgment may have singled out Raja as the villain in the 2G scam. But the cancellation of all the licences allotted by declaring the first-come-first-served principle adopted for the purpose as ‘illegal,’ the apex court has put the entire government on the mat. Spectrum is a scarce natural resource and it is the responsibility of the government as people’s trustee to utilise the resource in the best interests of the people.

All along, the prime minister was aware of his minister’s wrongdoing. Yet, he did not prevent the loot of this natural resource. Also, for 18 months, he did not even see any reason why he should take a decision on according sanction for Raja’s prosecution. At least now, the time has come for the UPA government to own up its collective responsibility for the scam, instead of continuing to put the entire blame on Raja.

There are some concerns that the mobile telephony might become expensive and, thus, also stunt its reach in rural areas, as a result of the judgment. For one, the size of the Indian market and the growth potential are huge, and the auction route is the best method to award contracts and licences. What the apex court has exposed is that some companies, who were not even in the mobile telecom business, were up to making big money quickly at the expense of public exchequer from the arbitrary method of awarding licences. The misgivings about the implications of the judgment on the mobile tariff are, therefore, at best presumptive. In any case, no blatant illegality can be condoned or justified.