Judgment

Chelameswar, J.

1. These five civil appeals under Section 18 of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997 (hereinafter referred to as the “TRAI Act”) and three writ petitions raise common questions. Each of the appellants or the petitioners, as the case may be, in these matters (hereinafter collectively referred to as ‘LICENSEES’) is a licensee holding a licence granted under Section 4 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 for providing TELEGRAPH services in the various earmarked service areas.

2. It appears from the judgment of this Court in Centre for Public Interest Litigation & Others v. Union of India & Others, (2012) 3 SCC 1, hereinafter referred to as 2G case, that the first telegraph link in India was experimented in 1839 between Calcutta and Diamond Harbor separated by a distance of 21 miles. By an act of the British Parliament, known as the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, the privilege of “establishing, maintaining and working of telegraphs” within the territory of British India was exclusively conferred under Section 4 upon the Central Government – an expre