Sasi Nair
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court of India will hear a plea by telecom companies in the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) case. The bench led by Justice Arun Mishra will hear the matter pertaining to repayment of AGR dues by telecom companies.
Leading telecom companies such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and others had appealed to the SC to allow them to make staggered payments of their adjusted gross revenue dues. The Supreme Court heard the matter initially on August 21 and will resume hearing the case on August 24.
In October last year, the apex court had upheld the expanded definition of AGR as given by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). Vodafone Idea owes balance to the tune of around Rs.50,000 crores, while Bharti Airtel owes around Rs.25,000 crores.
The Supreme Court had in its observations to Videocon revealed that per trading guidelines past dues need to be paid before transfer of spectrum. If you don't pay, Bharti Airtel, which acquired Videocon spectrum will have to pay.
The court also said that it wanted to ascertain the dues payable by Jio based on use of Reliance Communications (RCom) spectrum. DoT is yet to share the details that the court had asked to produce. Senior advocate Harish Salve had commented that RCom will be forced to go into liquidation if spectrum sale is not permitted. A spokesperson from RCom told media that Jio has already paid the relevant Spectrum Usage Charges.
The Supreme Court has categorically ruled that the court will not permit any self-assessment by the companies or re-calculation, and the DoT's assessment will be final.
