2G Presidential Reference in SC

Centre poses eight questions, including judicial interference, to court

The Centre on Thursday moved the Supreme Court with a Presidential Reference seeking the apex court’s opinion on issues arising out of its verdict on the 2G spectrum scam.

The reference, signed by President Pratibha Patil, raised eight questions, including judicial interference in the policy matters, allocation of natural resources, bilateral agreement between two countries and protection of foreign direct investment. Whether to answer to the reference is subjected to the court’s discretion.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, had on April 10 cleared the Telecom Ministry's proposal to seek the Supreme Court's opinion on various issues arising out of its February 2 judgement in which allocation of 122 2G spectrum licences on first-come-first-served basis were scrapped.  Meanwhile, the Telecom department will seek legal opinion, apart from consulting with the Finance and External Affairs ministries on invoking bilateral treaties to protect investment of foreign telecom firms like Sistema and Telenor.

Besides, the ministry will also consult with the Attorney General on whether the Supreme Court order scrapping the licences can be challenged under bilateral investment protection treaties India had signed with various countries. It will also seek the Attorney General’s opinion on whether foreign investors could claim damages from India for violation of the treaties and failure to protect their investments.

It may be noted that following the apex court order, foreign investors like Bahrain Telecom, a partner in S Tel, and Etisalat DB of UAE, have announced closure of their India operations.

However, Telenor, partner of real estate firm Unitech in Uninor, and Sistema (joint venture partner in Sistema Shyam Teleservices), have invoked bilateral treaties to protect their investments in the country.