The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed Bharti Airtel and Vodafone-Idea's applications seeking the recomputation of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues. The telecom companies had moved the apex court against their adjusted gross revenue (AGR) amounts citing errors in calcuation by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). The telecom companies had claimed there were instances of duplicate entries and errors in calcuations.

AGR dues calculated by the government for 16 telecom operators adds up to Rs 1.69 lakh crore while their self-assessment places their dues at Rs 37,176 crore.

The hearing in the case Thursday was cancelled due to non-availability of Justice Aniruddha Bose.

The judgment is most crucial for Vi (Vodafone-Idea) — reeling under massive debt — as it will face an existential crisis if the SC verdict is not in their favour.

A timeline:

2003: Telecom operators filed litigation challenging DoT’s definition of AGR.

2015: Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) excluded some of the non-core services from AGR. Subsequently, DoT filed an appeal against TDSAT’s decision in the top court.

October 2019: The Supreme Court overturned the TDSAT ruling. Later, the telecom department calculated the AGR dues for the telecom companies. According to the estimation, Vi (Vodafone-Idea) was to pay dues to the tune of over Rs 58,254 crore, Bharti Airtel-Telnor over Rs 43,980 crore, and Tata Teleservices at Rs 16,798 crore.

March 2020: Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Tata Group's self-assessment of dues to the government were ₹82,300 crore short of what the telecom department calculated. Bharti Group calculated its dues at ₹13,004 crore, Vodafone Idea at ₹21,533 crore and Tata Group of companies at ₹2,197 crore.

Besides, the DoT moved a plea in the top court seeking permission for allowing staggered payment of the dues by telcos over a period of 20 years.

September 2020: The Supreme Court granted 10-year time to telecom firms for paying the AGR dues to the DoT. The apex court said telcos should pay 10 percent of the AGR-related dues by March 31, 2021. The bench also observed that the top court had earlier said that there can’t be any re-assessment.

January 2021: The telecom companies filed separate pleas seeking a modification of the September 20, 2020 order of the top court, where the Dot’s AGR calculations were upheld. The companies said that arithmetical errors can be rectified and there are cases of duplication of entries.

(Edited by : Ajay Vaishnav)

First Published:Jul 23, 2021 11:25 AM IST