Eminent lawyer Harish Salve has said that the Supreme Court is to be squarely blamed for the current economic slowdown. In an interview to a news website, Salve has said that the slowdown began with the top court’s judgment in the 2G spectrum case in 2012.
Salve said the apex court knocked out billions of dollars of foreign investment with a stroke of the pen with its judgement on 2G and coal allocation cases. The Supreme Court in 2012 had cancelled 122 spectrum licences granted to eight companies. In 2014, the court also struck down all but four of the 218 coal block allocations from 1993 to 2011.
Salve said that had a very bad impact on foreign investors. "I can understand holding people responsible for the wrong distribution of licenses in 2G… Blanket cancellation of licenses where foreigners are investing… see when a foreigner invested it was your rule which said he must have an Indian partner," he said.
"The foreigner did not know how the Indian partner got a license. Foreigners invested billions of dollars, and with one stroke of the pen, the Supreme Court knocked all of them out. That’s when the decline of the economy began," he added.
Giving an example of coal, he said Indian coal mines are lying closed, and we are importing coal because of court's intervention. "You cancelled coal mines by one stroke of the pen, without examining the merits of every case. Much genuine foreign investment in the coal industry went flat. Then what happened? Indonesian coal and other world coal prices softened up. It became cheaper to import. A few million people are without jobs in India. Indian coal mines are lying closed, and we are importing coal. That is putting pressure on the economy."
He said that the cancellation of Coal block allocation has costed the economy 1 percent plus of GDP.
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