No SC relief to Voda on coercive action

New Delhi, February 17

The Supreme Court today rejected telecom firm Vodafone’s proposal to pay Rs 2,500 crore by the end of the day and Rs 1,000 crore by Friday against Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues, while also refusing its plea that no coercive action be taken against it.

A Bench declined to accept the proposal given by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Vodafone, after he mentioned the matter. Rohatgi said they were willing to pay Rs 2,500 crore today (Monday) and another Rs 1,000 crore by Friday but no coercive action be taken against the company. He urged the bank guarantee deposited with the government by Vodafone should also not be cashed.

The SC had on Friday warned of contempt proceedings against top executives of Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Idea and other telecom firms for failing to comply with its directive to pay an estimated Rs 1.47 lakh crore in past dues, and asked whether there was no law left in the country.

With the SC rap, the government came down heavily on telcos following which Bharti Airtel on Monday said it has paid Rs 10,000 crore to the telecom department towards statutory dues.

The company said it would make payment of balance amount after self-assessment exercise. “The… amount of Rs 10,000 crore has been paid on behalf of Bharti Airtel, Bharti Hexacom, and Telenor,” the Sunil Mittal-led company said.

The SC had expressed displeasure at the “temerity” of a desk officer in the Department of Telecom for “scuttling” its order by issuing a directive to not take any coercive action against firms for not depositing dues. — PTI

Telecom firms pay up agr dues partly

• Vodafone Idea and Tata Group have made part payment of about Rs2,500 crore and over Rs2,190 crore, respectively, to the telecom department
• Bharti Airtel made payment of Rs10,000 crore to the Department of Telecommunications towards statutory dues