Telecom stocks tumble on CAG audit scare, down up to 4%

Telecom stocks today faced sellingpressure, falling as much as 4.4 per cent, after the DelhiHigh Court held that the Comptroller and Auditor General of

India (CAG) can audit the accounts of private telecomoperators under the relevant provisions of the law.

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Shares of Tata Teleservices Maharashtra plunged 4.4 percent, while Idea Cellular fell by 1.88 per cent on the BSE.Among others, Reliance Communications was down 0.53 percent. Bharti Airtel also ended marginally down.The broader market was also sluggish with the Sensexslipping over 64 points.

A bench of justices Pradeep Nandrajog and V Kameswar Raopermitted the top accounting body to conduct audit of privatetelecom companies under the Telecom Regulatory Authority ofIndia (TRAI) Act.It rejected the separate petitions of Association ofUnified Telecom Service Providers (AUSPI) and CellularOperators Association of India (COAI) filed against thedecision of Telecom tribunal TDSAT on the issue in 2010.

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The high court had reserved its order in November 2013,after conducting marathon hearings on the issue where it tookon record submissions of the Centre, CAG and the petitioners– COAI and AUSPI.

PTI