Telcos get Supreme Court to sit on a Sunday; Singhvi, Rohatgi appear for Vodafone, Airtel

The Supreme Court today admitted the appeals filed by Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Loop Mobile (Petitioners) against the order of Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) on spectrum auction. The Court, however, refused to stay or defer the auction starting tomorrow..The matter was heard by a Division Bench of Justices Anil R Dave and SA Bobde which admitted the appeals and expedited the hearing while refusing to make any observation on the spectrum auction..Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi represented Bharti Airtel along with AZB Partner Percival Billimoria. Manjul Bajpai and PDS Legal’s Partner Tarun Gulati along with Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appeared for Vodafone while Additional Solicitor General (ASG) KV Vishwanathan represented the Central government..The TDSAT had passed an order last Friday refusing to grant an extension of licenses to the Petitioners. The Petitioners had then approached the Apex Court in appeal. Since the spectrum auction is starting tomorrow, the companies had sought urgent hearing in the matter resulting in a special sitting on Sunday..The contention of the Petitioners was that they were entitled to the extension of license because the conditions for a refusal to extend the licenses were not made out. Therefore, the licenses would get extended automatically for another 10 years as per the contract..While Senior Counsel Singhvi sought to distinguish between “extension” and “renewal” of licenses, Senior Counsel Rohtagi cited the inconvenience that would be caused to the customers of the Petitioners if they did not succeed in the bid. Rohatgi also made a final effort for relief, suggesting that the auction could take place as scheduled with the results being withheld till the appeals were decided..ASG Vishwanathan, however, vehemently opposed grant of any interim relief. Detailing out the pecuniary benefits the exchequer would be deriving from the auction, he said that,.“Any observation from you (apex court) can scare away other bidders and can take away the vibrancy of the spectrum auction.”.The Court, after hearing all the parties, refused to grant any interim relief while admitting the appeals. This would mean that the spectrum auction would commence tomorrow as scheduled with a total of eight companies bidding for the spectrum rights.