AGR dues: SC asks telcos to pay up 1.47 lakh cr; relief decision in 3 weeks

In another major blow to the telecom companies, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said the telecom companies would have to pay the due AGR amount as it's "public money". "Dues are public money that they have not paid for past 20 years," said an SC bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra. Asserting that no self-assessment exercise will be allowed, the Supreme Court said the telecom companies would have to pay interest and penalty as per its October 24 judgement.

In a scathing reaction to the AGR reassessment plea filed by the Department of Telecom, Justice Mishra said it would not spare officials who allowed reassessment of the pending telecom dues. Expressing its surprise over the plea, the SC said the government earlier fought tooth and nail, while suggesting penalty against telecom companies but now it wanted to do away with the interest.

The SC said the self-assessment done by the telcom companies was a sheer violation of the Supreme Court order -- a "sheer contempt". Expressing shock on the recent development following the SC order, Justice Mishra said the act of reopening of the SC order was sheer "contempt". The apex court said some players had suggested at least 8-10 months were required for corroborating numbers on self-assessment done by the telecom companies, which couldn't be allowed.

The Supreme Court also asked the Centre to withdraw the DoT order, which allowed the telcos to do self-assessment of their pending dues. "There can be no further exercise regarding dues payable. Even telcos should not have any further litigation regarding dues payable. There is subterfuge at play regarding the dues. This is more than a serious kind of fraud being played on this court," the Supreme Court bench said.

Also read: 'Paid in full', says Sunil Mittal as Airtel pays Rs 13,000 crore self-assessed AGR dues

In its response, Vodafone lawyer Mukul Rohatgi told the Supreme Court that there were some errors in calculation of the statutory dues. The SC said that it was fact that companies had earned (revenues) and they had to pay (dues) since 2002. "Telcos are usurpers of public money and you don't even want to pay a fraction of the revenue earned," it added.

The Supreme Court has scheduled the government's plea on fixing of "reasonable time" for making AGR dues payment for next three weeks.

Also read: Vodafone Idea needs 15 years to pay AGR dues; wants Rs 8,000-crore GST refund

A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and MR Shah on Tuesday had directed that the Centre's application be listed before the same bench which had given the October 24, 2019 verdict for payment of AGR dues, amounting to Rs 1.47 lakh crore, owed by telecom companies.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, had mentioned the application for urgent listing, saying that if a telecom company went bankrupt due to the dues, it would have a major impact on the sector.

Vodafone Idea has already threatened to shut shop in India if the government continues to demand full payout of the AGR dues, which could affect its 13,000 direct employees working in the country. Despite the DoT pegging dues of Airtel and Vodafone Idea at Rs 35,586 crore and Rs 53,000 crore, telcos claim the actual amount is quite lower than that.

Also read: AGR issue: Vodafone Idea tells SC it can only pay Rs 2,500 crore; gets no relief