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After much deliberation and long-winding arguments, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed telecom companies to pay adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues in yearly instalments over next 10 years.
The Bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra, S Abdul Nazeer and MR Shah directed the telecom operators to make a payment of 10 per cent of the total dues as demanded by Department of Telecommunications (DoT) by March 31, 2021.
This 10-year timeline for staggered payments would help companies such as Vodafone Idea , although the apex court did not agree to their demand of 20-year timeline for the payment.
At its hearing on May 18, the Supreme Court had lashed out at the telcos for self assessing their outstanding dues, saying they need to pay past dues with interest and penalties, totalling around ₹1.60-lakh crore.
According to the DoT, while Airtel has AGR dues of ₹43,980 crore, Vodafone-Idea ₹51,400 crore and Tata Teleservices ₹16,788 crore. While Vodofone-Idea has paid around ₹8,000 crore, Airtel and Tatas have paid ₹18,004 crore and ₹4,197 crore respectively.
Telcos have to make payments in yearly instalments commencing from April 1, 2021 up to March 31, 2031, the Bench said, adding that adjusting bank guarantees should be kept alive by telcos until payments have been made. “Let compliance of order be reported by all telecom service providers (TSPs) and DoT every year by April 7 of each succeeding year,” it said.
The telecom companies also have to submit an undertaking to pay the AGR dues as per the Supreme Court order. Any default in payments would invite interest and penalty along with contempt of court.
The Bench has also asked the Managing Directors and Chief Executives of the telcos to furnish undertakings or personal guarantees within four weeks for payment of dues.
It also made it clear that in case of any default of payment in instalments, the companies will not only be liable to contempt of court, they will also have to pay penalty for delayed payments.
The apex court further directed that for the demand raised by the DoT in respect of the AGR dues based on the judgment, there shall not be any dispute raised by any of the operators and that there will not be any re-assessment.
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