Airtel seeks clarification or recall of ‘mistaken orders’ | Economic Times

Mumbai: Bharti Airtel, in its petition in the Supreme Court over “arithmetical errors” by the government in calculating its AGR dues, has sought modification, clarification or recall of three “mistaken orders” that adjudged the claimed ₹43,980 crore to be the final amount.India’s No. 2 telco also sought permission for the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to arrive at the final adjusted gross revenue due amounts of mobile phone operators after taking into account calculations done by the companies. “The application accordingly seeks clarification/modification/recall of the said orders insofar as they (i) direct that the said amounts mentioned in the respondent’s statement be taken as the final amounts; and (ii) preclude the respondent from proceeding with and completing the departmental assessments and finalising the amounts due and payable,” Airtel said in its petition. 80140316The ‘respondent’ here is the government (telecommunications department) and the said “mistaken” orders were passed on March 18, July 20 and September 1 last year. The “errors” in DoT’s calculations of the dues stem from duplication in revenue addition, incorrect interest rate for calculating spectrum usage charges (SUC), and payments made by the telco not factored in, amongst others, Airtel said. ET has reviewed a copy of the petition. ET was the first to report on Airtel’s latest petition in the Supreme Court, in its January 6 edition.In March 2020, while hearing a modification plea of the government which wanted the telcos to be allowed to pay their AGR dues over 20 years, the top court had scrapped any exercise of reassessment by the telcos; then in July, during the hearing of the modification plea, the court again said no to recalculations; and finally in September, it allowed the government’s plea of AGR payment in instalments, but over 10 years, and according to the dues calculated by the DoT. The “three mistaken orders cause tremendous prejudice to the rights of the applicants, inasmuch as they would have the effect of requiring the applicants to pay as dues, amounts which have not been duly assessed and which have a large number of computational/arithmetical errors,” Airtel said in the petition. “The applicants (Airtel) pray that the respondents be permitted to complete the process of assessments after considering the representations made by the applicants in this respect (including for the mathematical and calculation errors) and thereby determine the amounts due and payable.”Airtel’s move – which is expected to be followed on similar lines by Vodafone Idea and Tata Teleservices – may lead to another legal tussle over an issue that had put a question mark over the viability of the two surviving telcos. Tata Tele has exited the industry by selling its consumer mobility business to Airtel.Vi and Tata Tele did not respond to ET’s queries as of press time Wednesday.To be sure, the three-judge bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra, now retired, had rejected any move by the telcos to reassess the dues on their own.