NEW DELHI: The information and broadcasting ministry today announced a further postponement in Phase II of bidding for FM licenses.

This follows the Delhi High Court's dismissal of a review petion filed by the ministry against an earlier court order allowing Radio Today to bid if it fulfilled certain conditions.

Following court's dismissal of the petition, the ministry was forced to postpone the bidding due to several complications, and this has triggered widespread confusion amongst industry leaders.

Radio Today Broadcasting Ltd, the FM company from the India Today stable, had earlier filed a writ petition with the HC to challenge its bid (part of the FM expansion Phase II) being refused on the ground that it did not meet the definition of 'net worth' (which as per the ministry would be Rs 100 million to bid for all cities).

Radio Today (RT) had claimed meeting the net worth criterion by including the One Time Entry Fee as part of its assets, which the government said was not acceptable as per the annexure put to the main tender document.

The court, in its order of 18 December last year, had ruled that RT's claim could not be sustained and the government policy laid down could not be subjected to orders from the court, but had allowed RT more time to adjust its accounts as per the government directive on net worth and rebid.

The ministry had filed a review petition on that HC order and contended in the court today that the company had misled the court.

The court's dismissal of the government petition means that that RT is again free to bid.

However, this complicates matters for the government, as there were other companies, which too had been refused bidding on the same grounds, FM industry sources told indiantelevision.com. Allowing RT to bid would open a whole series of such cases or cause further litigation.

Hence, the government decided to postpone yet again the bidding, which was supposed to take place on 14 and 21 January.

The understanding of the radio industry is that the government would revise the definition of net worth in the Phase Three policy to be announced in a few months from now.

"The industry feels that since such a policy is to come soon, it is better for the players to wait till the announcement and bid only in the third phase," said a top industry source, though it is learnt that there is pressure from a major media group and an entertainment content provider to hurry up the bidding process.