Government seeks time till 12 November for starting 2G auction process
09 Aug 2012
The government today moved the Supreme Court seeking an extension of the 31 August deadline for completing fresh auction sale of 2G spectrum licences and allowing it instead to start the auctioning process by 12 November.
In an application submitted to the Supreme Court, the telecom ministry said it needed time till 12 November to start the auction process and another 40 days to complete the procedure and allocate licences and spectrum.
This could stretch the process well into the New Year, and with further extension could move into the 2013-14 financial year as well.
The empowered group of ministers on telecom at its meeting on 7 August decided to approach the SC seeking extension of 31 August deadline to complete the auction of the raidowaves.
The application said the entire exercise could be completed in three months and 23 days (113 days).
This is the second time the government is seeking an extension of the deadline for completing 2G spectrum auction after the SC extended the original 2 June deadline to 31 August after the government sought 400 days to complete the auction process.
A bench of justices G S Singhvi and K S Radhakrishnan had also extended the existing 2G licences till 7 September 2012.
