PM holds consultations with senior ministers on 2G order

Hours after Supreme Court cancelled 122 licences for 2G spectrum, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today held consultations with his senior colleagues on the issue and its implications.

Hours after Supreme Court cancelled 122 licences for 2G spectrum, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday held consultations with his senior colleagues on the issue and its implications.

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Singh held the consultations soon after the meetings of cabinet and cabinet committee on economic affairs, sources said.

At the meeting, the implications of the apex court verdict are understood to have been deliberated upon.

Officially, the government has stated that it welcomes the judgement and rejected suggestions that it was an indictment of the Prime Minister or home minister P Chidambaram, who was the finance minister in 2008 when the licences were issued.

Telecom minister Kapil Sibal told reporters that the government will abide by the judgement that the spectrum should be auctioned.

While the government is treading cautiously on the issue, a section feels that a curative petition could be filed in connection with January 31 order of the apex court which indicted the PMO on failure to decide on prosecuting A Raja in 2G case.

In that order, the Supreme Court had set a limit of four months for deciding the issue of sanction for prosecution of corrupt public servants.