NEW DELHI (TIP): The Supreme Court on February 26 refused to stay spectrum auction in all 17 circles but told the Union government not to finalize the allotment of spectrum even if the successful bidder paid up the bid amount.

A host of telecom operators — Bharti, Idea, Vodafone, Sistema Shyam and Reliance — had approached various high courts questioning certain provisions of the notice inviting tender issued by the government on January 9.

All of them, through top-notch advocates including P Chidambaram and A M Singhvi, attempted to drive home the point that these clauses were designed to favour a particular player and nudge out competitors in specific circles. “There are conditions for bidding but there is no condition for use of spectrum,” they said.