By IANS
New Delhi : Indian telecom tribunal Thursday postponed hearing of a GSM operators’ petition over allowing operators use of dual technology till Feb 14, as a similar litigation is being heard at the Delhi High Court.
Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), a GSM organisation, had filed a petition against the department of telecommunications (DoT) over allocation of frequency or spectrum allocation to telecom operators and allowing CDMA players to roll out GSM services.
It had approached both the tribunal and Delhi High Court last year. The latter is hearing the issue since Jan 21.
“In view of the matter already going on before the Delhi High Court and to avoid parallel hearing on the same issue, I consider to defer the hearing,” said TDSAT Chairman Arun Kumar.
Solicitor General G.E. Vahanvati blamed COAI for messing up court procedures.
“There is a specialised tribunal and they should resolve their dispute here first,” Vahanvati said.
Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court made it clear that it is hearing the matter only for granting interim relief to the entire spectrum allocation issue.
“TDSAT is a higher authority and the High Court cannot interfere into its jurisdiction,” said Justice Gita Mittal, adding that it cannot put a stay on TDSAT’s order.