INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The top court on July 23 had dismissed the applications filed by telecom majorsThe Supreme Court Tuesday directed DoT not to invoke the bank
guarantees (BGs) of Bharti Airtel for three weeks for recovering Rs 1,376 crore in AGR-related dues of Videocon Telecom Ltd (VTL) which had
permitted the telecom major to approach the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) with the grievances."The DoT shall
not invoke the bank guarantee of Respondent...(Bharti Airtel) for the period of three weeks from today," a bench comprising justices L
Nageswara Rao, S Abdul Nazeer and M R Shah said in its order.At the outset, the bench made clear to senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing
judgement and we will give you the liberty to withdraw to approach the appropriate forum," the bench said.It also noted the submissions of
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Department of Telecom, that DoT will be permitted to raise all the grounds including the
objection to the jurisdiction, if any, before the forum to be chosen Airtel.Airtel said a DoT communication of August 17 has directed it to
pay AGR related dues of VTL within a week, failing which the BGs
Divan referred to various documents including the spectrum trading guidelines and said that the dues -- arising from the Adjusted Gross
Revenue or AGR of VTL, the seller of the spectrum -- were known at the time of the sale and hence the seller and not the buyer can be
fastened with the liability to pay."All the miscellaneous applications are dismissed," the bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao said
while pronouncing the order
The telecom companies had submitted before the top court that arithmetical errors in the calculation be rectified and there are cases of
duplication of entries.VTL had sold its spectrum to Bharti Airtel in pursuance of agreements entered into them in 2016
The Bharti group has already paid Rs 18,004 crore in AGR-related dues to DoT by March 31, 2021 which is much more than 10 per cent of its
the payment of 10 per cent of the total dues as demanded by the DoT by March 31, 2021 and the rest be paid in yearly instalments from April
1, 2021 to March 31, 2031.Divan argued that Airtel should not be proceeded against without being granted a reasonable opportunity to raise
the grievances before an appropriate forum
The bench then suggested the DoT saying: "We will permit him to withdraw and go before the TDSAT and hold your hand for two-three weeks."The
top court on July 23 had dismissed the applications filed by telecom majors, including Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel, seeking
rectification of the alleged errors in calculation of AGR related dues payable by them."All the miscellaneous applications are dismissed,"
the bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao said while pronouncing the order
The telecom companies had submitted before the top court that arithmetical errors in the calculation be rectified and there are cases of
duplication of entries.The top court in September last year had given a time period of 10 years to telecom service providers struggling to
pay Rs 93,520 crore of AGR related dues to clear their outstanding amount to the government.The top court, which had held that demand raised
by the DoT in respect of AGR dues will be final, had said there shall be no dispute raised by the telcos and there shall not be any
seeking permission for allowing staggered payment of the dues by telcos over a period of 20 years.(This story has not been edited by
TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
