In a decisive move, the Supreme Court has rejected curative petitions filed by major telecom operators, including Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel, concerning the computation of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues. The bench, led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and B R Gavai, also declined the request for these petitions to be heard in an open court setting.
The judgment delivered on August 30 and made public on Thursday leaves the telecom companies with hefty financial obligations as the court upheld the dues calculated by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). The telecom leaders had sought to correct what they claimed were arithmetic errors in the calculation of their AGR-related dues, which they argued amounted to over Rs 1 lakh crore.
In the detailed order, the court stated, “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.”
This ruling follows a series of legal battles waged by telecom companies against the AGR demands, which initially culminated in a 2021 verdict dismissing their plea for correction of the dues demanded. The Supreme Court had previously laid down that the demands raised by the DoT would be final and beyond dispute, including a structured payment plan spreading the payment of dues over a decade, starting with an initial payment deadline of March 31, 2021.
The dismissal of the curative petitions signifies the end of legal avenues in the apex court for the telecom firms regarding the AGR computations. Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel, which face liabilities of Rs 58,254 crore and Rs 43,980 crore respectively, will now have to adhere strictly to the payment timelines set forth by the Supreme Court’s earlier rulings.
