CENTRE FOR PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION versus UNION OF INDIA & ORS.

Citation: [2016] 2 S.C.R. 699 · Decided: 08-04-2016 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: T.S. THAKUR · Disposal: Dismissed

Judgment (excerpt)

[2016] 2 S.C.R. 699 
CENTRE FOR PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION 
' 
v. 
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. 
(Writ Petition (Civil) No.382 of2014) 
APRIL 08, 2016 
[T.·S. THAKUR, CJI, A.K. SIKRI AND 
R. BANUMATHI, JJ.] 
Telecommunitations: 
Conversion of EWA spectrum to UL (Unified Licence) i.e. 
migration of existing BWA (Broadband Wireless Access) spectrum 
to UL by respondent no.I - Constitutional validity of - Held: The 
decision of respondent No.I allowing migration from BWA to US 
license was valid and legal - First Telecom Policy was announced 
in I994, which was replaced by revised Policy of I999 and thereafter 
in the year 2004 and again substituted by Telecom Policy of 20I 2 -
Having regard to such features/developments, in the year 20I 2, the 
TRAI started exercise of bringing UL regime -After due deliberations 
at appropriate levels, the Government of India issued the National 
Telecom Policy-20I 2 and announced approval for introduction of 
UL regime - This was followed by the-policy decision of DoT to 
allow migration to UL from UASL as well as ISP to UL regime -
Thus, a policy decision was taken by the Government not only with 
regard to introduction of UL regime but it also allowed migration to 
UL from UASL as well as ISP to UL regime - This meant that those 
having UAS license which permitted data services only were allowed 
to migrate to UL enabling them Ip provide both data service as well 
as voice telephony - This was a pure policy decision after due 
deliberations by the experts in the fields and even TRAI had 
recommended allowing such migration - Records showed that 
various departments discussed pros and cons of migration of telecom 
licenses to UL regime; considered various apprehension,s expressed; 
and ultimately arrived at consensus for switching over to this regime 
- This lead to conclusion that decision of the Government permitting 
migration of telecom licenses to UL regime was valid, legal and 
without any blemish. 
Telecommunications sector - Brief history of the development 
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SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2016] 2 S.C.R. 
in telecommunication and in particular, of mobile/cellular services 
and the manner· in which spectrum is licensed from time to time -
Discussed. 
Whether migration of EWA spectrum to UL gave undue 
advantage to respondent no.2 - Held: A policy decision is taken to 
allow such a migration to all those who were holding EWA spectrum 
- This decision was not taken, only.for respondent No.2 individually 
- Respondent No.2 also became entitled to avail the benefit of the 
said decision - IESPL.having acquired the spectrum in the course 
of bidding, was not barred from obtaining licenses for various 
telecom services issued by the Government from time to time during 
the.period of 20 years for which EWA spectrum was given -
Any 
other license issued by the Government from time to time, thus, would 
make such license holder eligible to provide various services as 
allowed under these licenses -
In the said backdrop, when license 
was de/inked from the spectrum and having auctioned spectrum by 
allowing those who did not possess license to bid, it became 
necessary for the Government of India to come out with a regime 
for grant of licenses for providing various telecom services - A 
policy decision was taken for migration to new telecom service 
license, i.e., Unified License (UL) for ISP licensees with EWA 
spectrum - This decision facilitated those having data services to 
acquire license thereby covering voice-telephony as well - There 
was no discrimination on the part of the government authorities 
nor it aimed at undue favoritism to responden.t no. 2 - As per the 
new policy/regime, respondent no. 2 was eligible to apply for UL 
from EWL spectrum - Therefore, it cannot be treated as a case of 
back door entry of respondent no.2. 
Whether fixation of additional fee of Rs.1658 crores which 
was paid by respondent no.2 was abysmally low causing loss to the 
public exchequer -.Held: In 2010, when JG and EWA spectrum 
were auctioned, the spectrum were de/inked from license - In view 
thereof. when the policy decision was taken based on National 
Telecom Policy, 2012, whereby migration of UASL to UL was 
permitted, the question of fee that is to be charged is to be looked 
into -
TRAI, in its recommendations, had not prescribed any 
additional fee to be charged for migration of ISP operators with 
EWA spectrum to UL regime - Instead, it had s

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