The state government, which opposed the proposition of "auction" as the only route for allocation of natural resources, said it could alienate or transfer such natural resources by "implementing the FCFS policy or a lottery system".
While senior advocate Ravindra Shrivastava was making the submission against auction, a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia said that perhaps the FCFS policy was distorted in the allocation of 2G spectrum.
The Bench said the February 2 judgement of the apex court on the 2G spectrum made observations about the FCFS policy as it was distorted for allocating the radiowaves.
Attorney General G E Vahanvati said FCFS policy has been there since 2001 but telecom players were limited.
He said the entry fee of Rs 1600 crore was insisted on along with applications in 2007 and the allocation was done on the basis of who paid first, which was not done earlier.
"Then it's ceased to be FCFS policy. If you say at the last minute - payment instead of date of application - then it is not FCFS, it is out of turn. It not only changed the modality but criteria also," the bench also comprising justices D K Jain, J S Khehar, Dipak Mishra and Ranjan Gogai said.
The court was hearing the submissions on the Presidential reference arising out of the 2G spectrum verdict in which a two-judge bench of the apex court had held as illegal and unconstitutional the FCFS policy and favoured allocation of natural resources in all sectors through the route of auction. (more)
