SC on Telecom tangle

The Supreme Court extended the January 18 deadline for shutting down mobile networks by an additional two weeks. A two-judge bench, comprising Justices GS Singhvi and KS Radhakrishnan, said these companies can continue operations till February 4, the next date of the hearing.
Last week, the department of telecommunication (DoT) had asked the apex court to extend the January 18 deadline by three months as the government was making a last-ditch effort to offer a lifeline to the Indian operations of Russia’s Sistema and Norway’s Telenor.
According to the court’s earlier directive, all mobile phone companies whose permits were quashed in February last year were mandated to shut down their networks by January 18, unless they had obtained airwaves and new licences in the recently concluded spectrum auctions.
The two-member bench also hinted that it may not extend the permits of mobile phone companies if they did not bid for licences in the upcoming airwaves sale.
The court also asked the government to inform it on the base price for airwaves in the spectrum sale scheduled to begin on March 11.
The panel of ministers on spectrum has already cut the base price for airwaves in the upcoming auctions. The bench sought this information to ascertain if companies with quashed permits were likely to participate in the upcoming sale and indicated that mobile phone firms interested in bagging licences in the next auction would be allowed to continue operations in the interim period.
The bench also took the opportunity to caution the government that any revision of prices may lead to litigation. “Have you taken a decision to reduce the (reserve) price? It will cause more litigation,” Justice Singhvi said. “You charge a different price in October and a different price in March 2013, and 2014, for the remaining areas/licences. There will be more litigation inter-se parties,” Justice Singhvi cautioned, adding fresh litigation on this issue would not be its concern.
Last week, EGoM on spectrum had recommended a 30-50% reduction in the base price for airwaves in the 800 MHz band.

Telecom operator Uninor said it may decide to participate in the upcoming auction to get spectrum for the Mumbai circle and will continue its services in the financial capital following the Supreme Court granting an extension to operators whose licences were cancelled

SC upholds Kasab's death sentence

The Supreme Court has sent 26/11 Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab to the gallows, finding him guilty of the Mumbai attacks which killed 166 people. Upholding the Bombay high court’s sentence on five counts, the apex court said the “enormity of the crime on all scales” left it with no other option.

The Bombay high court had on February 22, 2011 upheld the death term awarded to Kasab by a trial court.
Focusing on the evidence that pointed to 26/11 being hatched in Pakistan and executed by a 10-member team trained by the Lashkar-e-Taiba, a bench of Justices Aftab Alam and C K Prasad said the conspiracy was vicious and ruthless. “In short, this is a case of terror from across the border. It has a magnitude of unprecedented enormity on all scales. The conspiracy was as deep and large as it was vicious. The preparation and training for the execution was as thorough as the execution was ruthless,” the SC said.
Refusing to show mercy to Kasab, the court said he behaved as if he was a patriot from Pakistan who was proud of what he had done. But the SC upheld the acquittal of alleged Indian plotters Fahim Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed.

What next?
Kasab can file a review petition which is mostly disposed of by judges in their chambers. He can seek clemency, from governor, then President

SC relief for Chidu

Finance minister P Chidambaram emerged unblemished from the 2G spectrum scam as the Supreme Court rejected all allegations against him, putting an end to the protracted litigation to link him to the mega corruption saga of 2008.
The court found no merit in the purported documentary evidence marshalled by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy, which was endorsed by activist advocate Prashant Bhushan, to seek a CBI probe into Chidambaram’s role in the 2G scam. The clean chit should cement the finance minister’s position as the government’s senior-most voice next to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The trial court, while refusing to entertain Swamy’s petition, had said that it did not find sufficient ground for initiating proceedings against Chidambaram. In contrast, the SC’s exoneration of the allegation of complicity in the scam was total. A bench of Justices G S Singhvi and K S Radhakrishnan rejected the petitions and applications to hand Chidambaram a four-in-one relief.
The court ruled that he had no role in the 2G spectrum allocation conspiracy, did not abuse his official position for financial gain for himself or for anyone including then telecom minister A Raja, did not play any role in under-pricing of spectrum, and did not hide facts to allow promoters of Swan and Unitech to dilute their equity.
The court also validated Chidambaram’s argument that he as finance minister in UPA-1 did not acquiesce in Raja’s successful resistance to inviting bids for spectrum. “On the other hand, Chidambaram was advocating the fact that most important method of allocating spectrum would be through auction,” the bench said.
It quoted from his January 15, 2008 note to the PM, where the finance minister had argued, “Spectrum is a scarce resource. The price of spectrum should be based on its scarcity value and efficiency of usage. The most transparent method for allocating spectrum would be through auction.”
Chidambaram has emerged a lynchpin of government’s responses to diverse challenges since Pranab Mukherjee’s departure for Rashtrapati Bhavan. Despite the case pending in court, government tasked him to head the EGoM on spectrum pricing.

The government rejected the Comptroller and Auditor General’s estimate of a presumptive loss of Rs 1.86 lakh crore on allocation of 57 coal blocks, with finance minister P Chidambaram saying there was no question of a loss when mining had started in only one block. “If coal is not mined, if it remains buried in mother earth, where is the loss? The loss can arise only once the coal is taken out of mother earth, mined and sold at unacceptable price or value. But if the coal is not mined, where is the loss,” Chidambaram said.

MP snubs Gujarat on lion translocation

Countering Gujarat’s opposition to lion translocation project, the Madhya Pradesh government told the Supreme Court that a second habitat for Asiatic lions in Kuno — cleared by National Board of Wildlife — was mandatory to avoid Tanzania’s disastrous experience in Serengeti where an epidemic almost wiped out the entire lion population.
Madhya Pradesh met with disdain Gujarat’s apprehension about safety of lions. The Shivraj Singh Chouhan government did not deny the past lapses allowing poachers to wipe out the entire tiger population in Panna, but said the new model of wildlife protection had got it laurels from many quarters and other states were emulating it.
“Although the state has been criticized severely for the extinction of tiger from the Panna National Park, the state has been, in the last few years, able to translocate and reintroduce the tiger in the park and currently, can boast of a population of 14 tigers,” the state’s counsel said, adding, “The state’s efforts have been duly recognized by the Tiger Authority of India, which assessed MP’s performance as outstanding.”
MP said Asiatic lions “must be relocated and reintroduced in an area which would be suitable alternative habitat for its survival in the event of outbreak of any epidemic”. On the suitability of Kuno Palpur Sanctuary, MP said it was the historical range of Asiatic lions, though the modern habitat was limited to Gir.