BackDoT seeks Vodafone plea dismissal
Vodafone's writ petition seeks renewal of licences
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New Delhi: The department of telecom (DoT), in its response before the Supreme Court (SC), has asked the apex court to dismiss a writ petition filed by Vodafone Cellular Ltd seeking the renewal of licences.
DoT has sought dismissal of the writ petition on the ground that it is “misconceived" as they have no legal right to an extension of licence without participating in an auction process. It has accused Vodafone of trying to approach multiple forums to address its issues, in this case the apex court, while an alternate remedy exists in law.
The writ petition by Vodafone was in relation to the renewal of unified access service (UAS) licences for the Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh (East), Rajasthan, Haryana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala circles. Their 20-year licences expire this December. On 29 September, DoT had rejected a request by Vodafone to extend its licences stating that grant of licence would happen through “market related process/auction only". This is based on a 2012 ruling of the apex court that cancelled 122 telecom licences.
Vodafone had told the court in December that it had invested 19,600 crore in its licences and had a subscriber base of 71 million and had also sought a stay on an auction process by the department.
The case comes up for hearing on 16 January.
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