Court seeks response from government on 3G spectrum auction
By IANSTuesday, January 13, 2009
NEW DELHI - The Delhi High Court Wednesday sought a response from the government on auctioning of radio frequency for next generation mobile services, better known as 3G.
A division bench headed by the Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to file a response by Jan 24.
The court’s directive follows a public interest petition filed by an NGO, Society for Awareness and Development, that DoT’s decision not to auction the whole spectrum at one go is arbitrary and done to benefit some companies.
The NGO alleged there were discrepancies in the allocation of spectrum and described it as non-transparent, unfair and against public interest.
The petitioner also said the central government should be directed to auction spectrum that DoT expects the defence ministry to vacate.
‘The government should be directed to disclose the availability of present and future 3G spectrum and auction the entire spectrum available at one go,’ the petitioner said.
