Supreme Court seeks Central government response in Telcos plea alleging errors in computation of AGR dues

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Central government to file its response to the applications moved by telecom companies, TATA, Vodafone and Airtel questioning the correctness of adjusted gross revenues (AGR) dues payable by them as computed by the top Court's 2020 judgment. .A Bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao, S Abdul Nazeer and MR Shah was hearing pleas alleging that there were a number of errors made in arriving at AGR dues of Rs 43,000 crore and Rs 58,000 crore, respectively, for Bharti and Vodafone Idea..Last September, the apex court had reaffirmed the dues payable by the telecos, particularly, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (VI)..[Breaking] Supreme Court allows telcos to pay AGR dues within 10 years, NCLT to decide whether spectrum can be sold.Appearing for the Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta today sought some time to respond in the matter.“I don't have any instructions. All my reading rests on the July 2020 judgment of this Court. I need two days time for instructions”, said Mehta..Accordingly, the Court adjourned the matter by two weeks. The Centre was also directed to file its reply to the application by the liquidator for Etisalat. .Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi representing Vodafone, submitted that he is only urging the Court to look at the alleged arithmetical errors involved in the matter.“I am not raising contentious issues or blaming DoT or rearguing the case. All I am saying is this due of 58,000 crores is spread over 20 years … some entries are arithmetical entries. If I have one rupee, the DD reflects only 50 paise… If there are thousand of entries over 20 years, it may have some impact as each entry has interest levied on it making Re 1, Rs. 5 … I don’t blame the DoT, this can happen with anyone. See one entry. One amount considered paid is of Rs 153 crores which was paid in 5 parts and a part of 18 lakhs has missed the attention of the accountant… If i have paid one rupee shouldn't I get an account for that,” he argued.Rohatgi went on to contend that the Court in the interest of justice should take note of arithmetical errors. “Any court for the interest of justice will take a look at the arithmetical errors. I am in compliance and i don't want to delay the instalments. My dues are 58,000 crore. We have a debt of 1,80,000 crores. All we are saying (is) allow me to place the details. If i am correct, give me some benefit.”.Appearing for Bharti Airtel, senior advocate Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi asserted that there were duplications of entries.Senior advocate Arvind Datar, representing Tata, submitted that “the basic dispute was ‘what is the meaning of AGR.’ We said non-telecom operations will not fall under AGR. This was rejected and that topic is closed. Now it involves both telecom and non telecom … This is like an AGR fee and here is the concept of self-assessment. Now, the controller of DOT compares my liability. Judgment now prohibits rectification.”.“A calculation has been done by the Court. This Court has said no recalculation,” Justice Rao pointed out.“That calculation is based on grossing of revenue from both telecom and non telecom aspects,” Datar responded.“We all have our backs to the walls,” Datar added, prompting Justice Rao to remark that “all these arguments in recalculation and reassessment have been closed by the judgment.”“We have paid Rs 5,000 crores. It’s a question life and death. Please see if reliefs can be granted at all … I can point out some glaring errors,” Datar urged the Court.Justice Rao, however, responded today by remarking, “It is not needed now.”.Senior advocate Ramji Srinivasan appeared for a second TATA company. Senior advocate Ritin Rai made brief submissions for the official liquidator of Etisalat..Bharti Airtel’s AGR dues last year was assessed at Rs 43,000 crore in the Supreme Court judgment while for Vodafone Idea it was over Rs 58,000 crore. However, the top court had granted interim relief to the telcos in the form of a staggered payment schedule of over 10 years..The two telecom majors had moved the Supreme Court earlier this year in January pointing out that there were a number of errors that were made in arriving at those AGR dues..Bharti Airtel's self-assessment pegs its total dues at ₹ 13,004 crore though it has already paid over ₹ 18,000 crore out of the total AGR dues of ₹ 44,000 crore sought by the DoT..In its plea before the Supreme Court, Bharti Airtel contended that AGR payments which were made earlier was not taken into account by the DoT while raising demands for different circles and years..The plea by Airtel stated that the earlier orders of the Supreme Court directing that the amounts stated should be treated as final and that there should be no further process of assessment, "are ex facie a mistake of this Hon’ble Court"..Vodafone Idea Ltd and TATA Teleservice too sought rectification of its Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR)..Vodafone stated that its dues are resulting from errors and is a total of ₹5,932 crores of principal amount payable which would have an overall impact of over four times on the total principal amount..Bharti Airtel moves Supreme Court for recalculation of AGR dues, seeks recall of earlier orders .The plea by Vodafone Idea sought a modification or a clarification on orders which had held that the Rs 58,400 crore claimed by the telecom department to be the final AGR due amount, pointing out arithmetical errors in the government’s calculations.The DoT, as per its calculation, sought AGR dues of Rs 58,400 crore.Of this, Vodafone Idea has paid Rs 7,854 crore and now owes the government Rs 50,400 crore more to be paid in 10 equal instalments through March 31, 2031.The telcos' own estimate puts the dues at Rs 21,533 crore, but the top court had barred telcos from self-assessing their dues, and went with the DoT’s claimed amounts..[Live Thread]

Supreme Court seeks Central government response in Telcos plea alleging errors in computation of AGR dues

Debayan Roy

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