Cabinet meet to finalise govt questions to SC on 2G

The cabinet on Saturday is likely to give a final shape to the questions the government proposes to ask the Supreme Court in the form of a reference by the President on various issues related to the 122 licences for allocation of 2G spectrum cancelled by the top court.

The cabinet on Saturday is likely to give a final shape to the questions the government proposes to ask the Supreme Court in the form of a reference by the President on various issues related to the 122 licences for allocation of 2G spectrum cancelled by the top court.

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The Supreme Court, had on February 2 declared as “illegal” the allotment of 122 licences granted by jailed former telecom minister A Raja and had asked the government to follow the policy of auctioning the licences instead of the first-come-first-served followed by Raja.

This is for the second time in its eight-year tenure that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government will seek a presidential reference from the Supreme Court.

The only earlier occasion was when it referred the water sharing dispute between Punjab and Haryana for a final settlement to the country’s top court.

The questions on which the government wants a clarity from the Supreme Court are include — whether auctioning of natural resources is the only correct way? Is the first-come-first-serve policy illegal? Were all the licences granted by the government in 2008 illegal?