Supreme Court rejects Vodafone Idea plea seeking reassessment of AGR dues; shares nosedive 15%

The Supreme Court on Thursday, September 19 rejected a petition by Vodafone Idea seeking a reassessment of its outstanding dues of around Rs 70,300 crore.

"The court upheld the earlier decision, thereby reinforcing the obligation of telecom companies to pay their AGR dues. This decision is a blow to the industry, Which had sought relief from the huge financial burden imposed by AGR calculations. This decision underlines the Court's firm stance on ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and maintaining the financial health of the sector," Zee Business reported.

On back of the news, shares of Vodafone Idea nosedived 15 per cent trading at Rs 10.98 each on BSE at 12.15 PM IST.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices Sanjiv Khanna and B R Gavai also rejected the plea of telcos seeking to list the curative petitions for open court hearing.
A curative petition is the last legal recourse in the apex court and is generally considered in-chamber unless a prima facie case is made out for reconsideration of the verdict.

"Application for listing the Curative Petitions in open Court is rejected. We have gone through the Curative Petitions and the connected documents. In our opinion, no case is made out within the parameters indicated in the decision of this court in Rupa Ashok Hurra v Ashok Hurra. The Curative Petitions are dismissed," the bench observed in an order dated August 30, which was uploaded on Thursday.

On October 9 last year, the top court had taken note of submissions of some telecommunication companies seeking listing of their pleas on Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) due issue.

The telcos had referred to alleged errors in the arithmetic calculation for arriving at the AGR-related dues by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

In July 2021, the Supreme Court dismissed a plea seeking correction of errors in the demand of AGR dues. The telecom companies had moved the top court claiming there were several errors in arriving at the AGR dues which totalled over Rs 1 lakh crore.

Vodafone-Idea's total liability was Rs 58,254 crore and Bharti Airtel's Rs 43,980 crore. Earlier, the top court had given the telecom companies 10 years to clear their outstanding dues to the government.

The top court held that the demand raised by the DoT witha respect to AGR dues would be final. It also said that telecom companies shall not raise any dispute and there shall not be any re-assessment.

It had said telecom operators shall pay 10 per cent of the total dues as demanded by DoT by March 31, 2021, and the rest in yearly instalments commencing from April 1, 2021, to March 31, 2031.

With inputs from agencies