Reliance Jio has paid its AGR dues of Rs 198 crore, while the total AGR dues of RCom stands at Rs 25,194.58 crore

SC AGR hearing HIGHLIGHTS: The Supreme Court adjourned the hearing on spectrum sharing case till Wednesday, August 19, 2020. A bench led by Justices Arun Mishra, S Abdul Nazeer and MR Shah heard the case. Senior advocate Harish Salve, who appeared for Reliance Jio today, said Jio isn’t acquiring Reliance Communications’ spectrum and not involved in any Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) proceedings. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told SC that Department of Telecommunications’ (DoT) view differs from views of Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) on sale of spectrum under IBC. The view finalised by the SC is that spectrum cannot be sold under IBC. Mehta also said that spectrum is owned by the government but held by the company under insolvency, in trust, cannot be sold. People of the country are owners of the spectrum, held by the government in trust. “Tomorrow we should have details of arrears of Reliance Communications in black and white,” Justice Arun Mishra told Solicitor General.

Meanwhile, telecom companies such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Tata Teleservices awaited the verdict on staggered payments of adjusted gross revenue case (AGR). Reliance Jio has paid its AGR dues of Rs 198 crore. However, Jio claims that the amount paid also includes the RCom’s AGR dues for the eight circles for which it bought spectrum from it. The total AGR dues of Reliance Communications stands at Rs 25,194.58 crore.