AGR Case: Supreme Court Lambasts DoT, Telecoms on Undertaking Self-Assessment of Dues, Says 'We Won’t Tolerate This'

New Delhi, March 18: The Supreme Court on Wednesday slammed the Department of telecommunications on the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) case which the telecom firms have to pay. The apex court asked the DoT to withdraw the move of allowing the the companies to undertake self-assessment, calling this process a fraud on the court.

Stating that every every company was violating orders and trying to hoodwink it, the Supreme Court rapped up both the DoT and telecom companies for using the media to influence the AGR issue. Hearing the case, the Supreme court clearly said that they won't tolerate this. The bench said, "We won’t tolerate this, every company is violating orders and they want to hoodwink us." Adding on, the bench said, "We do not appreciate actions of telecom companies, we will hold MDs personally accountable." Telecom Crisis: FM Nirmala Sitharaman Indicates Relief to Telcos on AGR Dues Soon, Says 'Concerned Department Will Do it'.

Making the observations on the AGR dues, which the telecom firms were ordered to pay, the Supreme Court said that despite 24 October judgement, the telecom companies are knocking the doors of court. The bench even said that the numbers were arrived at by the DoT only on which the case was fought.

The bench observed, "We cannot allow encroachment of SC judgment. If we will allow these pleas, SC will be party to fraud. We say with all responsibility that we cannot allow reopening." Adding more, they said, "We have dwelled on the amounts payable at length. Even the DoT fought tooth and nail regarding principal, interest and penalty. If you want a very big exercise, we will do it. We will go through every file noting of the DoT."

The bench in their observation said, "Even telcos should not have any further litigation regarding dues payable. There is subterfuge at play regarding the dues." It added that DoT’s move to allow self-assessment should be withdrawn, as there can be no further exercise regarding dues payable. Telecom Crisis: Narendra Modi Govt Likely to Give Relief to Telcos on AGR Dues by Mid-April.

It is to be known that Vodafone Idea was estimated to pay dues of Rs 58,254 crore, including penalty and interest, based on the telecom department’s estimate. While, in its self assessment, Vodafone has pegged the AGR due to be Rs 21,533 crore and paid Rs 6,854 crore.

Apart from Vodafone, Bharti Airtel Ltd has pegged its dues at Rs 13,004 crore after self-assessment, whiich is a third of the Rs 43,980 crore that was estimated by DoT. Till now, it has paid Rs 18,004 crore to the government. Meanwhile, Tata Teleservices has paid about Rs 4,197 crore, and Reliance Jio has paid about Rs 195 crore.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 18, 2020 12:17 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).