SC seeks all letters between DoT, S-Tel

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday called for all correspondence between Department of Telecom ( DoT) and mobile phone service provider S-Tel after it was alleged that the company was arm-twisted in 2010 to drop its opposition to alleged arbitrary change in policy.

During the hearing on PILs seeking cancellation of all 122 spectrum licences, a Bench of Justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly was told the cancellation order became a tool to arm-twist S-Tel into a compromise.

DoT's March 5, 2010 order cancelling S-Tel's licences forced the company to agree to the government's offer in the Supreme Court that it would wait till additional spectrum was available.

S-Tel had applied for starting mobile services in 16 telecom circles in addition to the six it was already licensed for. The arbitrary switch of cut-off date for application for licence from October 1, 2007 to September 25, 2007, eliminated the company from the race.

The bench was surprised by the timing of DoT's decision and asked additional solicitor general Indira Jaising, who appeared for the Union government, to produce all correspondence exchanged between DoT and S-Tel during the relevant period.

Referring to a communication shown by petitioner's counsel Prashant Bhushan, the bench said, "By reading the letter as such, we felt what has happened. But it is only when seen in this background, the timing of the letter becomes important." Jaising promised to place relevant official records before the bench.

Other petitioner and Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy said after S-Tel offered to wait for availability of additional spectrum, DoT on April 15, 2010 revoked the March 10 order cancelling its existing licences.

Swamy said that on S-Tel's plea, the Delhi High Court had held that shifting of deadline from October 1, 2007 to September 25, 2007 by a January 8, 2008 press release was arbitrary and amounted to changing the rules of the game after play had begun. Though the government and S-Tel settled the dispute, the Supreme Court had not disturbed the HC's finding, he said.

The bench also permitted Swamy to place on record a home ministry report against Etisalat DB Telecom Limited, raising security concerns because of Etisalat's presence in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

On the basis of this report, the finance ministry too raised an objection with DB Realty Group owner Shahid Balwa, who has challenged the home ministry finding in the Delhi HC. Etisalat's counsel, senior advocate Harish Salve, said, "The initial investment came through foreign direct investment route. Those facts are on record. I believe further investment required Foreign Investment Promotion Board clearance and there was some objection raised by the government. But that applied to Balwa against which he has filed a petition in HC."

The court posted the matter for Thursday, when AG G E Vahanvati will defend the government's policy decision on allocation of spectrum.