DoT to seek legal view on PSU demands after SC rebuke
The Department of Telecommunications will seek legal advice on whether to withdraw the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) demands of Rs 4.28 lakh crore against state-run companies such as GAIL, Power Grid and Oil India or first file a clarification with the apex court and wait for its orders, a senior official said.
- Devina Sengupta
- ETTelecom
- June 11, 2020, 23:12 IST
Mumbai: The Department of Telecommunications will seek legal advice on whether to withdraw the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) demands of Rs 4.28 lakh crore against state-run companies such as GAIL, Power Grid and Oil India or first file a clarification with the apex court and wait for its orders, a senior official said.
“Legal help will be sought over the next couple of days. The DoT has the option of telling the apex court that going by the observations, the department has decided to withdraw the demand of AGR dues and file it with the court or just file a clarification on why the demand was raised and then await further orders,” said the government official.
The top court on Thursday expressed grave concern over the government’s move to slap spectrum dues worth over Rs 4 lakh crore on the state-owned companies as AGR-based dues on par with those for private telcos.
Justice Arun Mishra, who headed a three-judge bench, questioned the government on how telecom dues were demanded from the PSUs and warned of action against DoT officials for issuing the notices. He sought a clarification from Solicitor General Tushar Mehta – who represented the government – on the matter in three days.
“In the circumstances, let the Department of Telecom reconsider the demand that has been sprung, within three days from today, and on the next date of hearing report the compliance of the action taken on the basis of this order,” the apex court said.
This was the latest instance of the DoT coming out on the wrong side of the bench, which also comprised Justices S Abdul Nazeer and MR Shah. The court had earlier slammed the DoT for not taking action against telcos for non-payment of AGR dues by the deadline, for which the department had to apologise.
