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Informist, Thursday, Sep 19, 2024

 

--SC rejects Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea's curative plea on AGR dues

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court today rejected a batch of curative petitions filed by telecom companies including Bharti Airtel Ltd and Vodafone Idea Ltd against the court's earlier order on adjusted gross revenue calculations. The apex court had earlier rejected their petition for rectification of alleged errors in the calculation of adjusted gross revenue dues payable by the company. Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea had moved curative petitions against the rejection in the apex court last year.

 

"We have gone through the curative petitions and the connected documents. In our opinion, no case is made out within the parameters indicated in the decision of this Court in Rupa Ashok Hurra v Ashok Hurra. The Curative Petitions are dismissed," the bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said.

 

At 1228 IST, shares of Vodafone Idea were down 14.5% at 11.02 rupees on the National Stock Exchange, while shares of Bharti Airtel were 2.7% higher at 1,700.30 rupees.

 

The petitions arise from an order by the top court in 2020, which granted 10 years to telecom companies to clear their adjusted gross revenue dues to the Department of Telecommunications. The apex court had asked telecom companies to pay 10% of the adjusted gross revenue dues upfront. The top court then said that no revaluation of adjusted gross revenue dues would be allowed, and any default would invite interest, penalty, and contempt of court.

 

The Department of Telecommunications has estimated Bharti Airtel's dues at 439.80 bln rupees, way higher than the company's estimate of 130.04 bln rupees. The department has estimated Vodafone Idea's dues at 582.54 bln rupees compared with the company's assessment of 215.33 bln rupees. 

 

The curative petitions also challenged the apex court's order in 2019, under which it asked telecom companies to pay a penalty of 50% of the entire amount of short-payment and interest at a rate which will be 2?ove the prime lending rate of the State Bank of India and that too compounded monthly.  End

 

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Vidhi Verma

 

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