JUDGMENT

K.S. Radhakrishnan, J. –

CIVIL APPEAL NO. 4591 OF 2014 [Arising out of SLP (C) No. 1804 of 2014]

AND

CIVIL APPEAL NO. 4592 OF 2014 [Arising out of SLP (C) No. 2925 of 2014]

1. Leave granted.

2. We are in these appeals concerned with the scope and ambit of the powers and duties of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in relation to the proper computation and quantification of Revenue in determining the licence fee and spectrum charges payable to Union of India under Unified Access Services (UAS) Licences entered into between DoT and the private service providers.

3. We have to examine the above-mentioned issue in the light of the various constitutional, statutory and licensing provisions, bearing in mind the fact that we are dealing with “spectrum”, which is universally treated as a scarce finite and renewable natural resource, the intrinsic utility of that natural resource has been elaborately considered by this Court in Centre for Public Interest Litigation and others v. Union of India and others (2012) 3 SCC 1 and in the Presidential Reference, the opinion of which