In a blow to the telecom sector, the Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the petitions of Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel seeking correction of alleged errors in adjusted gross revenue (AGR) calculation.
On September 1, 2020, the Supreme Court had allowed the telcos to pay the AGR dues in instalments over a ten year period and begin by making an upfront payment of 10% of the total dues.
The payment timeline started from April 1, 2021.
On July 19, the apex court reserved the order on petitions by Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea seeking correction of errors in the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) demands by the Department of Telecommunications.
It observed that it has said not just once, but twice and thrice that AGR demand can’t be recomputed.
Vodafone Idea counsel Mukul Rohatgi said that the AGR figures were not cast in stone and SC has the powers to correct the arithmetic error. The counsel urged that the calculations be placed before DOT and the department be allowed to take a call.
The company also informed the apex court of its financial situation due to the Rs 58,400 crore AGR dues and its surmounting debt of Rs 1.8 trillion.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed SC that he has not received any instructions from DOT on allowing correction of errors.
Bharti Airtel's counsel said that there were cases of duplication, payments made not accounted for in the computation of AGR dues. It added that certain permissible deductions have not been allowed.
The company said it was only asking for these issues, errors to be considered by DOT.
Tata Teleservices said that the SC judgement only prohibits re-assessment and does not bar rectification of calculative errors.
The apex court also said that the sale of spectrum should be decided by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy process.
SC in October 2019 delivered the verdict on the AGR issue for calculating government dues of telecom companies such as licence fee and spectrum usage charges.
After the top court had rejected pleas by Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel and Tata Teleservices seeking review of the judgement which widened the definition of AGR by including non-telecom revenues, the DoT had in March moved a plea seeking staggered payment over 20 years.
DOT had raised the AGR dues to the telecom companies after the Supreme Court crystalised the definition of AGR, similarly it can be done for the dues from bankrupt firms.
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