The Supreme Court today (January 7, 2020) has directed the Department of Telecom (DoT) to reimburse the bank guarantee amounting to ₹104 Crores to Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications (RCom), abandoning DoT’s plea to block the return of the amount.

This amount is the balance of the bank guarantee for spectrum, to be paid to RCom by the Centre. A Supreme Court Bench consisting of 2 judges and headed by Justice Rohinton Nariman in its’ order rejected the Centre’s petition against an earlier tribunal ruling ordering the reimbursement.

The bench opined, “We don't find any merits in the appeal.”

On December 21, 2018, the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) had directed the Centre to return around ₹ 104 crores after encashing bank guarantee of ₹ 908 crores against spectrum charges of ₹ 774 crores. As of now, the Department of Telecom has already adjusted ₹ 30.33 crores.

Author: Swetalana Rout