2G verdict for auction not blanket statement for all natural resources: SC

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today clarified that its 2G verdict recommending auctioning for allocation of natural resources was only confined to spectrum and it was not a blanket statement applicable across all natural resources.

"The recommendation of auction for alienation of natural resources was never intended to be taken as an absolute or blanket statement applicable across all natural resources, but simply a conclusion made at first blush over the attractiveness of a method like auction in disposal of natural resources," said a five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia.

"We are conscious that a judgement is not to be read as a statute, but at the same time, we cannot be oblivious to the fact that when it is argued with vehemence that the judgement lays down auction as a constitutional principle, the word perhaps gains significance," it said.

"The choice of the word perhaps suggests that the learned judges considered situations requiring a method other than auction as conceivable and desirable," the bench said.