Shares of telecom companies such as Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries, and Vodafone Idea declined on Monday ahead of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues case hearing in the Supreme Court later today.

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Bharti Airtel stock price fell almost 2 percent while Reliance Industries with unlisted telecom subsidiary Reliance Jio fell over 2 percent. Vodafone Idea stock fell over a percent.

On August 14, the three-judge SC bench had directed the government, Reliance Jio and the resolution professional of Reliance Communications (RComm) to put on record necessary documents to ascertain who would be liable for AGR dues of RCom. The matter will be heard today at 3 pm.

Furthermore, it asked for details of the spectrum sharing agreements entered into by all insolvent companies.

Follow Live AGR care hearing here.

During Friday's hearing, the apex court bench asked, "when the sovereign right is transferred for using spectrum, can dues arising be subservient to dues claimed by secured creditors Dues arising out of the use of natural, public resources cannot be merely operational dues, a matter of public money."

However, Reliance Jio, on Monday, submitted before the court that there was no legal basis for transferring AGR dues of RComm to Jio.

“There are no dues, AGR or otherwise, recoverable from Jio. The spectrum sharing guidelines of 2015 were designed to enable operators for utilising excess capacity w.r.t. spectrum while the guidelines don't provide for spectrum leasing,” Jio said.

The company claimed that the guidelines did no create joint or several liability in relation to DOT dues.

RComm has already submitted bank guarantees wrt One Time Spectrum Charge and had already paid Rs 6,627 crore to liberalise spectrum.

“DOT gained Rs 6,627 crore when Jio-RComm shared spectrum,” Jio added saying that the spectrum has been obtained by payment of market prices.

Meanwhile, on July 20, the SC had reserved its order on the government's petition to allow telecom companies such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and others to make staggered payments of the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) over a period of the 20-year period.

The apex court also said that there is "no going back" on the DoT demand on the AGR issues and it will only consider the timeline,

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First Published:Aug 17, 2020 2:18 PM IST