Common Judgment

Chitra Venkataraman, J.

1. The above Writ appeals are preferred by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India against the order passed by this Court, extending the order of interim stay originally granted by this Court in favour of the respondents herein.

2. It is seen from the order passed by this Court, which is now under challenge, that an order of interim stay was originally granted by this Court while ordering notice regarding admission returnable in two weeks. W.P.No.1875 of 2013, which relates to Writ Appeal No.855 of 2013, came up for admission before the learned single Judge on 24.01.2013, where notice regarding admission was ordered, directing the petitioner to send private notice to the respondent. This Court recorded the submission of the learned senior counsel appearing for the petitioner in W.P.No.1875 of 2013, that in the event of any amount payable by the petitioner, the petitioner was willing to make the payment. Recording the said undertaking, this Court granted an order of interim stay as prayed for. Subsequently, W.P.No.3652 of 2013 was filed, which is the subject matter of appeal in W.A.No.854 of 2013. Considering the identical issues raised therein, learned single Judge directed the matter to be posted along with W.P.No.1875 of 2013. An order of interim stay was also granted on 21.2.2013 and the matter was directed to be posted on 22.2.2013. It may be noted that the matters were listed on 22.2.2013 before the learned single Judge, who extended the order of interim stay and directed posting of the matters on 25.2.2013. Since apparently the matters were not listed, on a special mention made by the learned senior counsel in the Writ Petitions, interim stay was extended upto 12.3.2013 and the matter was again directed to be posted on 08.3.2013. Again, when the Writ Petitions, along with the stay petitions, were listed on 08.03.2013, on account of boycott by the advocates, at the request of the learned counsel appearing for the petitioners, the matters were directed to be listed on 25.3.2013 and the order of interim stay was again extended. Again, when the Writ Petitions along with M.Ps were listed on at 2.15 p.m. on 25.3.2013, 26.3.2013 and 26.3.2013 respectively, it is stated that arguments from the petitioners' side in the main Writ Petitions were heard and the matters were directed to be posted on 04.04.2013 at 2.15 p.m. and the stay granted was extended. In the meantime, impleading petitions were filed by BSNL, Association of Competitive Telecom Operators and Reliance Communications Ltd in M.P.Nos.3 to 6 of 2013. On 03.04.2013, as learned senior counsel appearing for the petitioners sought for time to file response to the impleading petition in M.P.No.6 of 2013, the matters were directed to be listed on 05.4.2013. When the matters were listed on 10.4.2013, at the request of the learned counsel appearing on either side, the matters were posted at 2.15 p.m. on 18.4.2013. It is stated that learned Solicitor General of India and the learned Senior Counsel, then representing the appellant herein, were present on the dates of hearing.

3. Since serious issues were raised by the learned Additional Solicitor General appearing for the appellant as regards the facts on the hearing of the main Writ Petition on the dates mentioned above, we called for the original bundle relating to the Writ Petitions as well as the cause list in respect of those dates. We find the following details as recorded in the order sheet:

4. As is evident from the reading of the Order Sheet, we find that notice regarding admission was ordered in W.P.No.1875 of 2013 on 24.01.2013. As far as W.P.No.3652 of 2013 is concerned, the same was originally listed before the Division Bench on 18.2.2013, which directed the matter to be posted before the learned single Judge along with W.P.No.1875 of 2013. Thus, on 21.2.2013 W.P.No.3652 of 2013 was posted before the learned single Judge, who directed the matter to be listed on