The SC granted relief to the telecommunications major Airtel by restraining the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) from enchasing Airtel’s Bank Guarantees. The SC also directed the DoT to not invoke the Guarantees for 3 weeks. Further, airtel was allowed to move the TDSAT to seek protection from payment of Videocon’s Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues.
The Supreme Court (SC) held a hearing on August 24, regarding a fresh plea by the telecom major Bharti Airtel against payment of defunct telecom company Videocon Telecommunications Ltd’s (VTL) adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues.
Shyam Divan who was representing Bharati Airtel conveyed that on August 17 from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) sought the payment of Videocon’s dues. The Letter warned the company that a failure to make the payment would result in the invocation of bank guarantees.
During the proceedings, the DoT cited the September 2020 AGR Judgment of the SC, which had raised demand on Bharti Airtel For Videocon’s dues of Rs 1,376 crore. On August 17, DOT slapped a demand notice on Airtel, seeking payment of Videocon’s AGR dues. However, it should be noted that this demand for the payment was only raised after the SC judgement, before that it was not raised once according to Bharati Airtel in a statement to the top court. The telco also stated that according to the spectrum trading guidelines, Videocon should have cleared all of its prior dues before concluding any agreement for spectrum trading.
Airtel had previously entered into a Rs 4,428 crore deal to buy the Videocon Telecommunications owned spectrum in Bihar, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh (East), UP (West) and Gujarat. In the wake of this deal, Videocon had traded its entire spectrum of 30Mhz to Airtel. This deal took place in March of 2016. Following this, the Department of Telecommunications wanted Airtel to pay Videocon’s past dues or Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR). Videocon owes the government around Rs 1,376 crore. Airtel disputed this and claimed that it did not carry the responsibility of the company’s past dues prior to the deal.
In April of 2021, the government had told the Supreme Court that it raised the demand for the AGR in compliance with an earlier order of the court but failed to get a positive response from Airtel.
Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here
For all the latest business News Click Here
