Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Tata Teleservices have approached the Supreme Court of India seeking time to settle the Adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues. The operators have asked the apex court to grant some time for paying the AGR dues.
The telecom operators have filed a separate petition for a similar plea. Vodafone Idea has said that it is facing huge financial stress and it is not in a position to make the entire payment of the dues within a short period of time. Bharti Airtel in its plea told that payment of the due amounts will cause irreparable damage to the company and to the telecom industry. It might also result in large-scale lay-off of employees if no relief was given.
The apex court, on October 24, ordered Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and other telecom players to pay the AGR dues by January 23. The telecom operators have to pay over 1.47 lakh crore to the government. Bharti Airtel has to pay Rs 35,586 crore to the government, while Vodafone Idea has to pay Rs 50,000 crore by the said. Tata Teleservices has to pay Rs 14,000 crore.
The telecom operators filed separate petitions in the court seeking review of penalties and interest on the dues. However, the Supreme Court recently rejected the petition of the telecom players to review adjusted gross revenue (AGR) adjustment. The SC bench comprises of justices Arun Mishra, S.A. Abdul Nazeer and M.R. Shah have rejected the review petition from the telecom operators. AGR is the basis on which telecom operator pays license fees and spectrum usage charges.