Following the Supreme Court judgement on adjusted gross revenue dues, Tata Teleservices today said that the company has paid ₹2197 crore to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), in a statement to the exchanges.
“ Pursuant to the judgement dated 24 October 2019 of the Hon'ble Supreme Court and in accordance with further communications from the DoT, Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited (TTML) have made a payment of Rs. 2,197 crores to the DoT towards License Fees and Spectrum Usage Charges," said the company statement.
TTSL and TTML have also submitted to DoT the details of calculations in support of the payment.
Note that telecom operators are collectively liable to pay ₹1.47 lakh crore in AGR dues as per the Supreme Court order dated October 24, 2019. The deadline to pay the amount ended on January 23, but none of the telecom operators, except Reliance Jio, paid the amount. Tata Teleservices, which had sold its mobile services business to Airtel, has dues of ₹13,800 crore, however according to sources, the company has calculated ₹2197 crore worth of dues only.
In January, the Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Tata Teleservices had jointly filed a modification application in the Supreme Court, seeking more time to pay the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues to the government. Last week, the Supreme Court came down heavily on the Telecom Department for not taking steps to recover statutory dues, estimated to be around ₹1.47 lakh crore from operators.
The DoT issued fifth and final notice to telecom operators on February 14 for making payment on the same day, but none of the companies paid the dues. The apex court pulled up telecom operators and the government on non-payment of AGR dues despite its order. It has asked managing directors and directors of the company to be present in person before court on the next hearing, scheduled for March 17, in case there is violation of its order in the AGR case.
