India's SC Rejects Telecom Pleas on AGR Dues Calculation
- M.R Mishra
- Sep 20, 2024
- 1 min read
India's Supreme Court dismissed curative petitions filed by telecommunication companies Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) on Thursday. These petitions sought corrections to alleged errors in the calculation of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues they owe the government.
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The Court also rejected a request from the telcos to have their petitions heard in open court. Curative petitions are the final legal recourse in the Supreme Court and are typically reviewed in chambers unless they demonstrate a strong case for revisiting the initial verdict.
In its August 30th order, the Court stated,
The application for listing the curative petitions in open court is rejected
We have examined the petitions and related documents. In our judgment, no grounds exist within the parameters established in the Court's decision in [reference to relevant case]."
The order concludes by dismissing the curative petitions.
This decision comes after the Supreme Court,
in September 2020, granted telecom companies a 10-year window to settle their outstanding AGR dues with the government.
The payment plan involves yearly installments of 10% of the total amount owed.
The telcos had contested the calculations used by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to determine their AGR dues, claiming there were arithmetical errors.
However, the Supreme Court previously dismissed a similar plea in July 2021, where the companies argued for corrections in the over ₹1 lakh crore (US$12.3 billion) AGR dues they were facing.
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