Supreme Court on DoT vs telcos: Apex court gives telcos 3 months to pay up deposit amount, 'and compliance be reported'

The problems of the telecom sector just got worse. In a further setback to telecom companies, the Supreme Court has now given a time frame of three months to pay dues to the Department of Telecom within three months, CNBC-TV18 reported. “We give three months’ time to deposit the amount, which is due and compliance be reported,” the apex court said.

The Supreme Court said the ”Appeals of licensees are dismissed  and filed by DOT are allowed in terms of the signed reportable judgment. Give three months’ time to deposit the amount, which is due &compliance be reported. Pending applications, if any, are disposed of”. On 24 October, the Supreme Court has ruled that telcos will have to pay all penalties and interests to the government, in a setback to telecom service providers. The Supreme Court had said it would fix the time as to when the telecom companies have to pay the amount to the centre. The apex court allowed the Centre’s plea to recover adjusted gross revenue (AGR) of about Rs 92,000 crore from the service providers. The Supreme Court termed the issues raised by telcos with respect to AGR as ‘frivolous’. The apex court held that not only the original charges, but principal interest and penalties on delayed payments would also be payable, the report said. A three-judge bench,  headed by Justice Arun Mishra said telcos will have to pay all their dues. The  Department of Telecom’s (DoT) total demand is around Rs 92,000 crore.   Airtel   might end up paying more than Rs 21,000 crore,  Vodafone  more than Rs 20,000 crore.