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In the Airtel-Videocon Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) case, the Supreme Court on Tuesday awarded Airtel relief by prohibiting the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) from pursuing Airtel's bank guarantees. The Supreme Court also ordered the Department of Transportation not to invoke the Guarantees for three weeks. Airtel was also given permission to file a complaint with the TDSAT to avoid paying Videocon's AGR dues.
On August 24, the Supreme Court (SC) heard a new petition by Bharti Airtel challenging the payment of defunct telecom company Videocon Telecommunications Ltd's (VTL) adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues. Justice Rao TO SG Mehta presided over the bench, which also included Justices L Nageswara Rao, S Abdul Nazeer, and MR Shah.
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According to Senior Advocate Shyam Divan, who represented Bharati Airtel, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) requested payment of Videocon's dues on August 17. Failure to make the payment would result in the invocation of bank guarantees, according to the letter.
During the hearing, the DoT highlighted the Supreme Court's AGR Judgment from September 2020, which had placed a claim on Bharti Airtel for Rs 1,376 crore in Videocon dues. On August 17, the Department of Transportation sent a demand notice to Airtel, demanding payment of Videocon's AGR dues. However, it should be highlighted that this payment demand was only made after the Supreme Court's decision; according to Bharati Airtel's testimony to the Supreme Court, it had never been made previously. According to the telecom, Videocon should have cleared all of its prior dues before entering into any spectrum trading arrangement, according to the spectrum trading criteria.
Divan contended that, under the terms of the Supreme Court's September 2020 judgement, Videocon's AGR dues could not be recovered from Airtel because it existed before the sale of its spectrum. According to the 2020 directive, the seller, not the buyer, is responsible for the dues of a telecom service firm that existed prior to the sale of the spectrum.
Even if the Videocon debt is taken into consideration and added to Bharti Airtel's AGR, Airtel claims that Bharti's payment of Rs 18,004 crore comfortably meets the 10% payment deadline of March 2021.
Divan urged the Supreme Court to see the Government's letter to Videocon during the hearing. He asserted that they were reminded that they were responsible for paying their dues. Until the 1st of September, the general notion was that they were liable, Divan stated.
We have made it clear we will not review but will grant liberty to approach TDSAT, Justice Rao responded. Another concern is to keep your hand in yours for another week or so till they get close to TDSAT.
Airtel had already agreed to buy Videocon Telecommunications' spectrum in Bihar, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh (East), Uttar Pradesh (West), and Gujarat for Rs 4,428 crore. Following this agreement, Videocon sold its whole 30 MHz spectrum to Airtel. This transaction occurred in March of 2016. The Department of Telecommunications then demanded that Airtel pay Videocon's overdue dues or Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR).
The government notified the Supreme Court in April 2021 that it had raised the demand for the AGR in accordance with a previous court order, but that it had not received a good response from Airtel.
(Source: News18)
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