Supreme Court gives 10 years to telecom companies for clearing their dues

The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave telecom firms 10 years to clear Adjusted Gross Revenue-related dues, which run into about Rs 1.6 lakh crore. The court said 10 per cent of the outstanding amount is to be paid by March 31, 2021, giving the extended timeframe in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A three-judge bench led by Justice Arun Mishra said the instalments will have to be paid by February 7 of every succeeding year and any default will accrue interest. Non-payment will also invite contempt of court proceedings, the bench said, and once again clarified that no revaluation of AGR dues would be entertained.
On the point as to whether spectrum can be sold by the telecom companies facing proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), the bench asked the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to decide whether spectrum can be subject matter of resolution process.

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Later, the department of telecommunications (DoT) had in March this year moved a plea seeking permission for staggered payment in a time period of nearly 20 years for the telecom companies.

On August 21, the top court had directed the DoT to apprise it the basis of spectrum sharing done by telecom companies and how much is the liability of the sharers.

The top court asked the DoT secretary to file a specific affidavit apprising it about who was using the spectrum from the date of grant of license and from which date the respective sharing of spectrum has taken place.

The Centre had earlier told the top court there was a difference of opinion between two of its ministers (DoT and the ministry of corporate affairs) on the issue of sale of spectrum.

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