DoT seeks legal view to recover dues

NEW dELHI: The department of telecom (DoT) has sought the opinion of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and other top legal minds on invoking bank guarantees (running into several thousand crore of rupees) for “delays” in realising “full dues” from mobile operators, who had been ordered to pay dues up to Rs 1.47 lakh crore in three months, following the October 24 AGR (adjusted gross revenues) judgement by the Supreme Court.
On Monday, mobile operators — mainly Bharti Airtel, Tata group and most-troubled Vodafone Idea — scrambled to make part-payments to the government and made promises of clearing the dues before the next hearing in the top court on March 17.
The companies paid a total of Rs 14,697 crore to the telecom ministry, with Bharti Airtel paying Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 9,500 crore for Airtel and Telenor and Rs 500 crore for Bharti Hexacom), Vodafone Idea submitting Rs 2,500 crore, and Tata Teleservices and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Rs 2,197 crore. Vodafone Idea, whose petition to thwart coercive action by DoT was rejected by the Supreme Court earlier in the day, also promised to pay another Rs 1,000 crore by week-end.

Sources in the ministry told TOI that Mehta had been approached over the weekend as the telecom ministry wants to go “strictly by the rule-book this time around” after receiving severe censure from the Supreme Court over relaxation given to telcos.
“We will go by the rules, and the licensing agreement. The agreement clearly stipulates that the government has the right to invoke bank guarantees in case of payment defaults after notices have been served. If this is not found to be sufficient, then in extreme cases and after a show-cause notice, the government even reserves the right to cancel telecom licence,” a source said, though adding, “the last resort is still not being contemplated as crores of mobile subscribers may get hit.”
Sources said highest-levels in the government — including PMO -- are seized of the matter since an extreme step may disrupt the mobile connectivity of crores of subscribers. For example, both Vodafone Idea and Airtel have over 30 crore subscribers each.
The telecom department has sought over Rs 53,000 from Vodafone Idea, around Rs 35,000 crore from Airtel, while seeking nearly Rs 14,000 crore from Tatas. However, the companies do not agree with these findings, and have been doing their own math, especially as they have been asked to do self-assessment.