TDSAT asks Reliance Telecom to deposit 25% of Rs 10cr penalty

Telecom tribunal TDSAT today asked Reliance Telecom to deposit within two weeks 25 per cent of the Rs 10 crore penalty imposed by the DoT for alleged violation of guidelines on subscriber identity in the Madhya Pradesh circle.

The bench, headed by Justice S B Sinha, also stayed Rs 9-crore penalty imposed on the Reliance Communication (RCom), another Anil Ambani group company, on the same matter.

Issuing notices to the DoT over petitions filed by the two firms, the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) asked the government to file its reply within three weeks.

Meanwhile, the counsel appearing for the companies also informed the tribunal they have approached the Bombay High Court for arbitration against the agency, to whom it had outsourced its Customer Application Forms (CAFs) related work.

The companies are engaged in a separate dispute with the agency. Both the firms could not produce the materials and data before the The Telecom Enforcement, Resource and Monitoring (TERM) cell as they were stored in a ware house, which was in possession of the said agency. A city court based in Bangalore had ordered the companies not to interfere with the possession of agency's warehouse.