“……….under Section 11 (1) (b), the Authority merely has a power to recommend terms and conditions of a licence. We are told that many of the licenses which have been given by the Government to the mobile operators contain a condition that the DoT will not pay any access fee to the cellular operators. The cellular operators have accepted the license on this condition. Yet in purported exercise of the power under Section 11 (1) (d), i.e. in the guise of regulating the arrangement among the service providers of sharing their revenue for providing telecommunication services, the Authority has, under the impugned Regulation, purported to provide that cellular operators will receive 80 paise per pulse from the landline operator. The Authority has also provided that its Regulation will prevail over all licenses. Thus in fact the Authority has varied the terms and conditions of license. The Authority has overridden provisions in a contract between the parties and affected the rights created by the license. The Authority has, in purported exercise of power under Section 11 (1) (d), converted a recommendatory function into directory power. It is for the government to decide what are to be the terms and conditions of a license to a service provider. The Authority can not either directly or indirectly vary the terms and conditions which are laid down by the Government in a license to a service provider. What it can not do directly, it can not do indirectly.
