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Informist, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025

 

--SC junks Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea pleas on miscalculation in AGR dues 

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court has rejected review petitions filed by Bharti Airtel Ltd., Vodafone Idea Ltd. and others alleging that certain arithmetic errors had arisen due to inadvertence on part of Department of Telecommunications while computing adjusted gross revenue dues. The petitioners had said that there were some "glaring errors" in the demand raised by the government, wherein the amounts that have already been paid by the companies were not taken into account for computing outstanding adjusted gross revenue dues.

 

"We have carefully perused the review petitions as also the grounds in support thereof. In our opinion, no case for review of the order dated Jul. 23, 2021 passed in Miscellaneous Applications is made out. The review petitions are, accordingly, dismissed. Pending application(s), if any, shall stand disposed of," said the bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Abhay S. Oka and Justice Sanjay Kumar.

 

The petitioners have said that there was double counting of some revenue items in the adjusted gross revenue demands. This covers a situation where a figure of revenue has been added twice to the revenue of the companies, leading to the same amount being subjected twice to demand of licence fee/spectrum usage charges. The petitioners have said that they were eligible for deduction of public switched telephone network related call charges from its gross revenue, however, certain deductions were not granted by the department. 

 

In 2019, the apex court had backed the government's view and levied adjusted gross revenue dues on telecom companies of INR 1.47 trillion. Thereafter in 2020, the court had 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. 

 

At 1047 IST, the shares of Bharti Airtel were down 0.2% at INR 1,710.75 on the National Stock Exchange, while the shares of Vodafone Idea were down 2.2% at INR 8.45. 

 

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

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

 

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