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TMCNet: S Tel letter to DoT to settle claims draws SC ire

[March 15, 2010]

S Tel letter to DoT to settle claims draws SC ire

NEW DELHI, Mar 12, 2010 (The Economic Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday took an exception to the communication ministry's alleged pressure tactics to soften up S Tel, a joint venture between Chennai-based Shiva Group and Bahrain Telecom, to give up its demand for 2G mobile service liecenses in 16 telecom circles.

A bench comprising Justice B Sudershan Reddy and Justice SS Nijjar expressed its displeasure over S Tel letter to the ministry headed by A Raja saying it was open to settle its claim over the licence for 16 telecom circles when the matter was sub-judice .

A day prior to the scheduled hearing in the apex court, S Tel on Tuesday wrote a letter to the ministry for settling its claim over the licence for 16 telecom circles , which was upheld by the Delhi High Court.

It was reported that S Tel's letter followed after DoT asked S Tel to stop its mobile services in the circles of Himachal Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa citing security concerns. Though the Department of Telecom had filed an appeal against the HC verdict, the March 9 letter of S Tel virtually tried to push the issue to pre-HC hearing situation by agreeing with the ministry's stand that it was ready to stand in queue for the allocation of 2G licence subject to availability of spectrum.

S Tel, in its letter, said, it had to revisit its business strategy for the 16 telcom circles because the reasons for it to initiate litigation have been overtaken by subsequent events, passage of two and half years and the continuation of the uncertainty of getting the licences. The DoT appears to have proceeded in extreme swiftness after receiving the letter, which was perused by as many as five senior officials, before being placed before the apex court.

Attorney General G E Vahavnati and counsel Sanjay Hegde on behalf of department pointed out to the bench that as S Tel was in agreement with the consistent stand of the government, the matter could be disposed of after recording the stand of the telecom company. But, the Bench was not fully convinced and asked S Tel's counsel Dayan Krishnan some uncomfortable questions.

"You are not aggrieved by the Delhi HC order, then why are you writing letter to the department when we are hearing the matter. Should you write a letter to the department at this stage?" remarked court.

It asked S Tel to explain its position vis-a-vis the letter through an affidavit by Friday. Immediately after filing the appeal against the HC order, the Centre had advanced security concerns to prima facie convince the apex court about the bonafide of 2G spectrum allocations and extracted a promise from S Tel not to initiate contempt proceedings against the government if it did not implement the HC's order faulting allotment through an "arbitrary" advancement of cut-off date.

To see more of The Economic Times, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://economictimes.indiatimes.com Copyright (c) 2010, The Economic Times, India Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

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