Jio submits another legal opinion on satellite spectrum backing auction
auction satellite spectrum, Reliance Jio has submitted to authorities, including regulator Trai, another legal opinion from a former Supreme Court judge who has opined that while there is no mandate, constitutional or otherwise, that natural resource allocation must be only by auction, it is certainly “a more preferable method”.
As per Justice L Nageswara Rao, former judge of Supreme Court, in light of commercial considerations underpinning the allocation of satellite spectrum and sans any social or welfare objectives, any law or rules providing for a method other than auction, raising concerns on its legality, could be found “constitutionally unsound under Article 14 of the Constitution of India.”
The judge has given his opinion of a query from Jio seeking to know whether under the constitutional and legal regime in India, auction is the only permissible mode of assignment of spectrum for commercial space-based communication services.
Earlier, Jio had shared the opinion of former Supreme Court judge KSP Radhakrishnan to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to back its view that auction should be the mode of spectrum allocation for satellite communication services.
This comes on the heels of satcom companies sharing the view of former attorney general Mukul Rohatgi, who said auction isn’t the most appropriate and efficient method of resource allocation.
As per Justice (retired) Radhakrishnan, when natural resources are made available to private parties for their own gain, the state must endeavour to maximise its own revenue by adopting competitive means of disposal.
“Any other method would be susceptible to challenge under Article 14 of the Constitution.”
Further, he said the top court had held that spectrum can
