2G: States, corporates support Centre's stand

Various state governments and corporate bodies on Thursday supported the Centre's stance on 2G Presidential Reference before the Supreme Court, saying all natural resources cannot be allocated to private companies only through auction as directed by the apex court in February.

Various state governments and corporate bodies on Thursday supported the Centre's stance on 2G Presidential Reference before the Supreme Court, saying all natural resources cannot be allocated to private companies only through auction as directed by the apex court in February.

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Appearing for the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), senior advocate Harish Salve contended that the verdict was specific to spectrum allocation and it cannot be applied to all natural resources.

Salve placed his submissions before a constitution bench headed by Chief Justice SH Kapadia hearing the government's Presidential Reference on 2G.

The bench, also comprising Justices D K Jain, J S Khehar, Dipak Mishra and Ranjan Gogoi, was told that in several judgments it has been held it is not necessary that in all cases of transfer or alienation of resources, the state is duty-bound to adopt the method of auction.