Supreme Court today said that auctions are not the only permissible method for disposal of natural resources across sectors. It held that the 2G verdict was confined to allocation of spectrum and is not applicable to other resources.

Giving its opinion on the Presidential reference arising out of 2G verdict, a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia also ruled that common good is the touchstone for any policy and if it meets that then any means adopted is in accordance with the constitutional principles.

The bench also comprising justices D K Jain, J S Khehar, Dipak Misra and Ranjan Gogoi observed, auction despite being a more preferable method of alienation or allotment of natural resources, cannot be held to be a constitutional requirement or limitation for alienation of all natural resources and therefore, every method other than auction cannot be struck down as ultra-vires the constitutional mandate.

The bench said that auctions may be the best way of maximizing revenue but revenue maximisation may not always be the ultimate motive of the policy and natural resources can be allocated to private companies by other methods for the purpose to subserve public good.

The apex court referred to various judgements delivered by it earlier while upholding government's decision to allocate natural resources through means other than auction.

Justice Khehar, who wrote a separate but concurring judgement, said that natural resource should not be dissipated as a matter of charity, donation or endowment, for private exploitation.

The court disagreed with the contention that auction should be the only means of allocation as other methods can be abused by the private companies in connivance with government authorities as happened in 2G case.