AGR dues: Supreme Court calls for books of accounts of Airtel, Vodafone, Tata

The Supreme Court today directed several telecom companies to submit their books of accounts and other financial documents of the last ten years before the Top Court during the hearing on the pending Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues.

Airtel, Vodafone-Idea and Tata are included in the companies that will now have to file all their financial details of the last ten years before the Supreme Court bench of Justices Arun Mishra, Abdul Nazeer and MR Shah before the Court can decide how much time ought to be granted to the companies to pay the pending dues.

The Centre also told the Supreme Court today that in light of the last hearing, the Central Government had decided to roll back its decision of recovering the dues from Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs).

Read: Paytm Claims Telecom Firms Not Preventing Phishing; HC Seeks Centre, TRAI Response

Read: SC Dismisses Review Petition By Telecom Operators Urging New Schedule For AGR Payment

Airtel represented by Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi before the Supreme Court states that the company had already paid Rs. 18,000 crores of its pending Rs. 21,000 in addition to a bank guarantee given to the Department of Telecommunications which could be encashed.

Counsel for Vodafone, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi told the Supreme Court that the company was not in a position to make any more payments due to loss in profits for several quarters.

Rohatgi told the Supreme Court that Vodafone was running into losses of Rs. 1 lakh crores. “If I am asked to pay the entire amount tomorrow, I will have 11,000 employees who will be left with no jobs,” Rohatgi told the bench.

The lawyer for Tata, Senior Advocate Arvind Datar told the Supreme Court that the company had paid over Rs. 36,000 crores in AGR dues and requested the Court to allow for the remaining payment to be made in parts.

The Supreme Court bench allowed an opportunity for all parties to come together and formulate a scheme for payment of the dues in a phased manner. The Supreme Court also directed all companies to provide their books of accounts of the last ten years before the next date of hearing in July.

Read: 'Not A Single Telecom Company Contributed A Penny To COVID:' SC On AGR Dues

Read: DoT Submits Details Of Dues On AGR From Telecom Companies Ahead Of SC Hearing