Delhi High Court refuses to quash TRAI recommendation to impose ₹2,000 crore penalty on Vodafone-Idea

The Delhi High Court Wednesday refused to set aside the Telecom Regulatory Authority’s (TRAI) recommendation to impose a penalty of nearly ₹2,000 crore on Vodafone-Idea for not providing interconnectivity to Reliance Jio..A Division Bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad noted that the TRAI recommendations from 2016 as well as the Central government order dated September 29, 2021, imposing the fine, are already under challenge before the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT). The Court also recorded that TDSAT has already stayed the Central govenment's order and the TDSAT is empowered to deal with the case. "The TDSAT has been empowered to deal with all disputes arising under the TRAI Act. After the Tribunal gives the conclusion that the Order dated 29.09.2021 passed by the Respondent No.2 is not sustainable in law, then automatically the recommendation dated 21.10.2016 which is under challenge in the instant writ petitions would be set aside," the Bench said. .It agreed with the TRAI and Centre's submissions that any observations made by the High Court will have an adverse impact on the petitions which have been filed before the TDSAT."In view of the above, the instant writ petitions are disposed of, along with any pending application(s), if any. It is made clear that this Court has not made any observations on the merits of the case. It is always open for the Tribunal to decide the issue on merits, including the recommendation dated 21.10.2016 which is under challenge in the instant petitions," the Court ordered..The TRAI had recommended in 2016 that penalties of ₹50 crore should be levied on Vodafone and Airtel for each of the country’s 21 circles. This amount added up to ₹1,050 for both Vodafone and Airtel. Further, TRAI also recommended a penalty of ₹950 crores for the 19 circles it operated in. As Vodafone and Idea merged, the penalty against them now effectively amounts to nearly ₹2,000 crores.In their plea, Vodafone-Idea argued that the TRAI’s recommendation was without jurisdiction and was wrongly passed without adhering to the principles of natural justice.They stated that the action of TRAI was premeditated to somehow create a ground against the petitioners for alleged non-compliance with the license conditions..Senior Advocate Gopal Jain with advocates Manjul Bajpai, Manu Krishnan, Vipul Singh and Madhavi Agarwal appeared for Vodafone-Idea. Senior Advocates Ramji Srinivasan and Ritin Rai along with Central Government Standing Counsels (CGSC) Arunima Dwivedi, Manish Mohan and advocates Pinky Pawar, KR Sasiprabhu, Aabhas Kshetrapal, Aditya Swarup, Tushar Bhardwaj, Vishnu Sharma, Manan Shishodia, Prakhar Agarwal and Aakash Pathak appeared for the Central government..[Read Judgment]