| Auction can’t be only disposal method of natural resources: Government |
NEW DELHI The government on Monday told the Supreme Court that “auction cannot be the only permissible method for disposal of natural resources” and a uniform policy on their distribution is “neither practical nor can it subserve the common good”.
The government also asserted that the allocation of natural resources is a policy matter and beyond the purview of judicial review.
The submissions of the government came in response to the questions framed by the court on Presidential Reference moved by the government for its opinion on issues arising out of its 2G spectrum allocation judgment including whether auctioning of natural resources across all sectors is mandatory.
Supporting the policy of first-come-first-serve, the government said: “Ultimately the method of allocation of natural resources, apart from being governed by the principles of fairness and transparency, should also take into account the dynamic concept of public interest which also includes within its ambit the larger economic perspective and not merely financial gain.”
Further, it said the desirability to have fairness and transparency in state auction does not lead to the conclusion that “auction is the only way” in which one can proceed further.
“The disposal and distribution of natural resources has to be made in accordance with the sector specific requirement of each natural resources. The method of distribution of natural resource has to take into account the nature of natural resource and economic policy underlying the effective utilisation of such resource,” the government said.
Citing court judgments that the courts do not interfere with the policy decision only on the ground that another such decision would be better, the government said: “The formulation of policy of allocation cannot be static.”
Maintaining that world over, there is no single set of determining factors in the context of allocation of natural resources, the government said the policy determining the appropriate method of allocation may be influenced by variety of factors such as economic interest of the union/state, geo-political and industry-specific priorities and sector-specific goals that may requisite stock taking at a policy level.
It questioned the Supreme Court for interfering into the policy matter by saying that “the task of finding out the best possible method of distribution of natural resource is a matter which falls within the realm of policy”.
“It is purely a policy matter as to whether a particular method of distribution is suited to a particular natural resource,” it said while maintaining that “the principle that the state is bound to adopt the best method of disposal of natural res-ources is indisputable keeping in mind the constitutional principles of subservience of common good and the doctrine of public trust”.
“However, the said principles do not bind the state in all circumstances to dispose of natural resources only by way of auction,” it argued.
A bench comprising justices GS Singhvi and AK Ganguly (since retired) had delivered a judgment on February 2 cancelling 122 telecom licences by holding the first come first serve policy was illegal and unconstitutional and directed that all natural resources should be allocated through ‘auction’.
Press Trust of India
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