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Govt moves SC, says 2G order crossed judicial review limit

NEW DELHI: The UPA government on Friday gave its analysis of the Supreme Court's 2G judgements saying it "travelled beyond" the established limits of judicial review and entered the exclusive domain of the executive when it held that the policy of first-come-first-served was flawed.

A presentation by the department of telecommunication (DoT) before the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) examining the 2G issue contented that the apex court view on the policy was flawed on the ground that the court disagreed with the weight attached by the executive to the different factors underlying the decision.

"The judgement, in respect of the policy, is directly contrary to the settled law as laid down by the Supreme Court that the essence of policy-making and governance is the weighting and balancing of different values and considerations, which is the role of the executive, and it is not permissible for the court to take this exercise upon itself and engage in policy making, both for the reason that it is not its role to do so and does not have the expertise to do so," the DoT said in the presentation.

The Committee was told that the judgement erred in holding that the policy was "flawed" and "lopsided" on the ground that in the view of the court, the considerations of promoting the growth, affordability, penetration of wireless services in semi-urban and rural areas, as well as maintaining a level-playing field between the existing and new licences for 2G spectrum, were outweighed by the considerations of maximising short-term revenue for the state.

The government also moved the Supreme Court seeking review of its verdict cancelling 122 2G spectrum licences on Friday. — PTI