Jailed former telecom minister A Raja, the central government and CDMA services provider Sistema Shyam Teleservices have separately moved the Supreme Court seeking review of the verdict that cancelled the licences allotted to 122 firms in the 2008 2G spectrum sale.

Moving the review petition in the SC on Friday, the government asked the apex court to reconsider its earlier ruling barring the government from allocating radio spectrum on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Raja also moved the SC seeking a review of the verdict on 2G licence cancellation and his indictment, saying it violated the ''principles of natural justice'' and ''judicial norms'' and that he was indicted without being heard.

In his petition Raja also noted that the findings of the verdict are ''bound to prejudice'' his defence in the trial of 2G spectrum allocation scam.

''The judgment of this court in as much as it condemns his action and inaction as telecom minister in numerous places is in violation of the basic principles of fair play and justice and affording him an opportunity of being heard before he is condemned,'' Raja's counsel said in his plea.

''Natural justice requires that if a matter is decided against a person by a judicial or quasi-judicial body, that person should be given an opportunity of being heard and a pronouncement which condemns a person without hearing him would be void. The judgement of the court in the present case has not observed these principles of natural justice and judicial norms and fair play in condemning a person without hearing him or giving him an opportunity of being heard,'' he said.

The SC had, in its verdict cancelling the licences granted during Raja's tenure, observed ''the exercise undertaken by the officers of the DoT between September 2007 and March 2008, under the leadership of the then telecom minister was wholly arbitrary, capricious and contrary to public interest apart from being a violation of the doctrine of equality.''

''The findings of illegalities and favour against him are bound to prejudice his defence in the pending prosecution against him in the court of Special CBI judge where he faces prosecution,'' he said.

The government, which is facing a 2 June deadline for reallocation of the 122 licences for 2G spectrum, had moved the Supreme Court stating that it will impact over 69 million mobile users as the auction process for radio waves will take at least 400 days (See: SC deadline for resale of spectrum impossible, says govt) .

The SC, which on 2 February, cancelled the 122 telecom licences allotted on or after 10 January 2008, including additional spectrum allotted to incumbents, had ruled that 85 of the 122 licences were outside the eligibility criteria for allocation.

The apex court wanted all the 122 licences for 2G spectrum, which were granted in an arbitrary and unconstitutional manner, be cancelled and fresh auction for spectrum conducted in four months from 2 February.

The SC also directed the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to go in for a fresh issue of licences during this period.

The SC order has cancelled 21 licences of Videocon, 22 of Unitech Wireless Ltd (Uninor), nine of Idea, 21 of Loop, six of S-Tel, 21 of Sistema, three of Tata, 13 of Swan and two of Allianz void.

The SC has also slapped Rs5 crore penalties on Unitech Wireless Ltd (Uninor), Swan Telecom and Tata Telecom and a Rs50 lakh penalty on Loop, S-Tel, Allianz and Sistema Shyam.

Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd (SSTL), which provides CDMA services under the MTS brand, also filed a petition today asking the Supreme Court to review the cancellation of its licence as it was the only operator to have applied for a pan-India CDMA spectrum in 2008 and that theres was no suggestion in the CAG report that CDMA spectrum was anywhere near in demand as GSM. SSTL also said that it is the only pure-play CDMA operator in the country and therfore should not be penalised like the GSM operators (See: SSTL files review petition in the Supreme Court). Earlier this week, Tata Telecommunications filed a review petition in Supreme Court against the cancellation of the licences (See: Tata Teleservices seeks review of SC judgment on licenses cancellation)  granted for three circles in Assam, North East and Jammu and Kashmir.