The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the Centre’s application seeking more time to complete the work on the fresh auctioning of 2G spectrum licences which were cancelled by the apex court in its February 2 judgment.
A Bench comprising Justice G S Singhvi and Justice Sudhansu Jyoti Mukhopadhaya posted the matter to August 24 for hearing after senior counsel P P Rao made the request in this regard.
The Ministry of Telecom, in its application, said that it needed time till November 12 to start the auction and another 40 days to complete the procedure and allocate licences and spectrum.
The decision to approach the apex court for extension of time was taken at a meeting of the empowered Group of Ministers on Telecom on August 7, it stated.
The entire exercise would be completed in three months and 23 days, the ministry averred.
It may be recalled that the SC had extended its original June 2 deadline to August 31, 2012, declining to grant 400 days as sought by the government to complete the process of fresh auctioning.
The SC had also said that the existing licences for the 2G spectrum would continue to be operational till September 7, 2012.
By its February 2 verdict, the apex court had cancelled 122 licences for the 2G spectrum and had directed their fresh auctioning by June 2.