Bharti Airtel has moved an Application before the Supreme Court seeking for a limited clarification/modification of the Adjusted Gross Revenue dues owed to the Department of Telecommunications as well as a recall of previous orders which allowed the Respondent to appeal against the judgement of Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT).
Errors of omission had been highlighted such as Deduction Verification Report received from Circle CCAs( Controller of Communication Accounts) was missed by the Respondent while raising a demand. Additionally, payments that had already been made by the Applications in respect of certain demands had not been considered by the Respondent at all. Errors of commission had also been made with payments made incorrectly being factored in by the Respondent.
It was submitted that the impact of such errors resulted in significant increase in the amounts being claimed by the Respondent, as for every Re. 1 increase in the principal amount, the levy of interest, penalty and interest on penalty results in the amount being claimed by the Respondent increased by up to Rs.8 .
Further, it sought for the Respondent to proceed with finalizing the assessments after taking into account the representations made by the Applicant. It was reported in the Economic Times that Vodafone Idea had also moved the Supreme Court to seek a modification on the orders of the Apex Court.
In October 2019, the Supreme Court had allowed the Centre's plea to recover AGR to tune of Rs.92,000 crores.
On 1st September, 2020, a Supreme Court Bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra had held that the telecom companies which were liable to pay AGR dues shall make a payment of 10% of the dues by March 31, 2021.
The NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal) was directed to decide on the aspect of sale of spectrum under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.
