Supreme Court: The 3-judge bench of Arun Mishra, SA Nazeer and MR Shah, JJ has given 5 days to Telecom Service Providers to file a joint affidavit with respect to their proposal to secure the amount, which is to be paid against AGR dues. The matter will now be taken up on June 18, 2020.
The issues that are to be considered are:
- reasonable time-frame
- how to ensure the payment of the amount even within that time-frame
- what kind of securities, undertakings and guarantees should be furnished to ensure that the amount is paid by the Telecom Service Providers
It was also brought into Court’s notice that how the demand was raised on the basis of it’s judgment with respect to Public Sector Undertakings when the licences were different and the judgment never dealt with the issue of Public Sector Undertakings and their agreements are quite different. Noticing that the licences are different, the Court asked the Department of Telecom reconsider the demand that has been sprung, within three days, and on the next date of hearing report the compliance of the action taken on the basis of this order.
Last year, in Union of India v. Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India, 2019 SCC OnLine SC 1393, the Court had refused to change the definition of gross revenue as defined in clause 19.1 of the licence agreement granted by the Government of India to the Telecom Service Providers and had said,
“The definition of revenue has been taken in a broad, comprehensive, and inclusive manner to pose fewer problems of interpretation, and exclusion of certain items was avoided.”
[In re Mandar Deshpande, 2020 SCC OnLine SC 501, order dated 11.06.2020]
Also read:
In a big blow to the Telecom Sector, SC refuses to change AGR definition
