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The Supreme Court on Monday, during the hearing on the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) matter of telecom companies, questioned the Centre as to how is it possible to sell the spectrum and whether it is transferable. A bench, headed by Justice Arun Mishra, told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), to come prepared on the next hearing, and explain how can spectrum be sold or whether is transferable. The bench also asked Mehta to get the NCLT orders connected with the query, as it scheduled the next hearing on the matter on August 14. Mehta contended before the bench that the government has filed an appeal saying spectrum is a national property and it should not be part of bankruptcy assets. At this, the bench questioned: "Why there was a delay in filing the appeal? What if the spectrum is sold in the meanwhile?" Mehta contended before the bench that the Centre has told the National Company Law Tribunal that spectrum is a national property, cannot be an asset of the company, and it cannot be sold. The bench also questioned how Aircel's spectrum and license were sold and who gave the permission for it. Aircel's monitoring committee's lawyer contended before the bench that no dues to government are be paid under the bankruptcy resolution plan, and insisted that he will place the details in court. The lawyer contended that the company paid the money to buy spectrum, and it is a transferable asset. The Centre, however, said Aircel's dues were Rs 12,000 crore. As the bench questioned the DoT as to how it proposes to recover the <keyword id="8275485" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="agr-dues">AGR dues</keyword> from a company which has gone into insolvency, Mehta replied that DoT's stand is that spectrum cannot be part of bankruptcy assets.

Supreme Court adjourns AGR case hearing to August 14

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked Department of Telecommunication (DoT) not to invoke bank guarantee given by Bharti <keyword id="15491" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="airtel" source="Orion">Airtel</keyword> for a period of three weeks for not clearing Videocon Telecommunications Ltd's adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues of over Rs 1,300 crore. A bench headed by Justices L. Nageswara Rao and comprising Justices S. Abdul Nazeer and M. R. Shah declined to entertain Airtel's plea challenging the DoT demand, but it allowed the telecom firm to approach the appropriate forum against the government decision. Senior advocate Shyam Divan, representing Bharti Airtel, argued that his client received a communication on August 17, saying the firm must make payment and if it fails to do so, then there is a possibility of invoking various bank guarantees. He contended that Rs 18,000 crore dues have already been paid by the telecom company, according to the top court's order and there is another figure, which is attributed to Videocon Telecommunications. He added that there is a particular spectrum traded by Videocon to Airtel and citing the spectrum trading guidelines, he added the seller shall clear all dues prior to concluding any agreement for spectrum trading. "The liability is of Videocon... full liability of the seller," submitted Divan. Divan argued that by adding the dues of Videocon to the demand made from Airtel, the DoT has violated the apex court's order that AGR dues cannot be recalculated or reassessed. The top court said it will not interfere with its order, rather it will grant liberty to Airtel to move any other alternate forum to redress its grievances. Divan said that the alternate forum will be the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT). Earlier this year, in an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court on the status of statutory dues paid by telecom operators, the DoT said it is planning to slap Videocon Telecommunications Ltd's AGR dues over Rs 1,300 crore on Bharti Airtel. Videocon Telecommunications had sold spectrum of 30 MHz to Bharti Airtel in 2016. Concluding the hearing, the top court allowed Airtel to withdraw the application and also restrained the DoT from invoking its bank guarantees for 3 weeks. According to the Centre's calculations, the total AGR liability of Bharti Airtel is Rs 43,980 crore, Vodafone Idea's is Rs 58,254 crore, Tata group's is Rs 16,798 crore, BSNL owes Rs 5,835.85 crore, and MTNL Rs 4,352.09 crore. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/airtel-added-5-million-new-4g-users-tariff-hike-hopes-and-record-broadband-customer-addition-surge-share-price/articleshow/85039298.cms">Five million new 4G users, tariff hike hopes and record broadband customer addition send Airtel's stock to a 6-month high</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/the-enormous-gap-between-vodafone-idea-on-one-hand-airtel-and-jio-on-the-other/articleshow/85035781.cms">The enormous gap between Vodafone Idea on one hand, Airtel and Jio on the other</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/vodafone-idea-loses-over-4-million-subscribers-airtel-and-jio-add-over-9-million-in-june/articleshow/85589113.cms">Vodafone Idea loses over 4 million subscribers, Airtel and Jio add over 9 million in June</a>

AGR case: Supreme Court directs DoT not to enchash Airtel's bank guarantees for three weeks

The Supreme Court on Monday reserved its judgment on the issue of recovery of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues from insolvent telecom companies. A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra is likely to pronounce the judgment on three counts: Staggered payment schedule, where the Centre said it is fine with 20-year arrangement to recover AGR dues; Can spectrum be transferred or sold by companies under IBC; and, additional liabilities, if any, on Jio, Airtel for the past dues of RCom, Videocon, and Aircel. Airtel had spectrum sharing and trading pacts with Videocon and Aircel, whereas Jio had it with RCom. The court had asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to share the details of 'demand under process' for raising the liabilities against Airtel and Jio in the backdrop of spectrum-sharing. The bench also comprising Justices S Abdul Nazeer and MR Shah observed that if DoT does not provide the correct position on the AGR demands, then the due figures quoted in the ruling could go wrong. "It has been nearly 10 months to the AGR ruling -- why has the DoT not yet raised the demand?" The DoT informed the bench that no demand has been raised against Jio and Airtel for part dues of RCom and Videocon, and that the assessment of Jio and Airtel liability for the past dues is "under process". Senior Advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Committee of Creditors for RCom, contended before the bench that the right to use spectrum is an "asset which can be sold", if the company wants to. Salve added that the resolution plan proposes the sale of the right to use spectrum is in line with the licence trading guidelines. Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Airtel, contended that if the liability of the past dues of Videocon were to be imposed on Airtel, why wait for so long. Instead, the DoT should have clarified it long back, he argued. The court observed that according to trading guidelines, the seller of the spectrum shall satisfy all pending dues, before the sale. The bench said that it understood that upon the non-payment of dues by the seller, the trading guidelines would transfer the burden on the buyer. The DoT counsel contended that under trading guidelines, the past dues have to be cleared prior to the spectrum-trading, and under these guidelines, the DoT could recover the dues from seller and buyers. The bench questioned why no demand was raised against Airtel for the past dues of the Videocon spectrum. Sibal said Airtel had been paying all pending dues since the acquisition of the Videocon spectrum in May 2016. The apex court remarked that what is being proposed seems like renting out a house to a tenant and the latter selling the house under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

Supreme Court reserves order on recovery of AGR dues from insolvent telecom companies

New Delhi, Jan 19 () The telecom department is examining the legal applicability of January 23 deadline for payment of over Rs 2.4 lakh crore statutory dues in the case of non-telecom PSUs which were not originally party to AGR matter in the Supreme Court, according to sources.
Sources in the Department of Telecom (DoT) told that while the PSUs too have been asked to make payments related to statutory liabilities (after the SC in October upheld government's position on calculation of non-core revenue for AGR dues), the larger question is whether the January 23 deadline is legally enforceable on state-owned companies that were not direct party to the dispute.
The current view that is emerging in the DoT appears to be that the court-imposed timeline may not apply to PSUs, but the matter is being legally examined for clarity.
"Of course, the court has decided the issue of principle of what is AGR, so they (PSUs) have to pay but if they do not pay by January 23 it will not be contempt as it will be in case of the parties to the case. So PSUs have to pay and we have raised demands, but if they do not pay by January 23 it will not amount to contempt of court on their part because they were not party to the case, but they have to pay," a source added.
Another official also said that the issue of deadline for PSUs is being examined legally. Telecom companies Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, on the other hand, are legally bound to comply with the payment timelines stipulated by the apex court.
Following the Supreme Court order of October last year, the DoT estimated that the total liability of 15 telecom companies, including penalties and interest, would be Rs 1.47 lakh crore. 
These AGR liabilities arose after the Supreme Court in October last year upheld the government's position on including revenue from non-telecommunication businesses for calculating the annual AGR of telecom companies, a share of which is paid as licence and spectrum fees to the exchequer.
It has estimated another over Rs 2.4 lakh crore in liability for non-telecom companies, including state-owned gas utility GAIL India Ltd and power transmission firm PowerGrid, which had taken licences to trade broadband on optic fibre running along their pipelines and transmission lines.
The DoT has sought Rs 1.72 lakh crore in past statutory dues from state-owned gas utility GAIL India Ltd following the Supreme Court's AGR ruling. The DoT sent a letter to GAIL last month seeking these dues on IP-1 and IP-2 licences as well as Internet Service Provider (ISP) licence, in response to which, GAIL has told DoT that it owes nothing more than what it has already paid to the government.
The assessment puts PowerGrid liability at Rs 21,000 crore, and another Rs 40,000 crore liability was assessed of Oil India Ltd. However, a demand notice was served in case of Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers &amp; Chemicals Ltd for Rs 15,019 crore. MBI ANZ MKJ

You Searched For "agr dues case" and got 4 results

Supreme Court adjourns AGR case hearing to August 14

IANS

AGR case: Supreme Court directs DoT not to enchash Airtel's bank guarantees for three weeks

IANS

Supreme Court reserves order on recovery of AGR dues from insolvent telecom companies

IANS

DoT examining if Jan 23 legal deadline for AGR payment applies to non-telecom PSUs

PTI

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