Supreme Court warns of strong action for recalculation of AGR dues

The Supreme Court on Monday asked Telecom companies, saddled with over Rs 1.47 lakh crore dues as adjusted gross revenue, to come up with a reasonable timeline of payment, saying they were "dragging us to a corner where it would have no option" but to take strong action against them.

A bench of Justices Arun Mishra, S Abdul Nazeer and M R Shah said the Telecom companies were earning much more than pending dues but were hiding details. The top court reserved its order on time line for payment of dues.

The bench also made it clear that it would not hear any arguments on reassessment of dues, take adverse action against Telecom companies and will impose heavy cost on them.

"Why should we give relief to telcos behaving dishonestly on pending dues? Telecom companies are still challenging AGR calculation by Department of Telecommunications," the bench asked.

"How can this be done? Who has the temerity to do it? How can you reduce their liability? We will send your client directly to jail. This is gross contempt of our orders," the bench asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, even as he maintained that there was no recalculation of dues.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Vodafone Idea, agreed for Rs 58,000 crore as AGR dues. Bharti Airtel, for its part, represented by senior advocate A M Singhvi claimed pending dues of Rs 25,000 crore, and Tatas 12,000 crore.

Rohatgi, who sought 20 years time for clearing of dues due to wiping out of Rs one lakh Crore equity, agreed to scale down the time to 15 years. Mehta, however, preferred to stick to 20 years time, saying the decision was taken in view of its cascading effect on economy and to prevent it from going haywire.

It posted the matter for further hearing on August 10. It also sought details of insolvency proceedings initiated by RCom, saying the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code can't be misused to escape liabilities.