The Supreme Court delivered a significant blow to major telecom operators like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea by dismissing their pleas for a review of its 2021 order regarding the calculation of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues. The bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justices Abhay S Oka and Sanjay Kumar, upheld their previous decision, dismissing the companies’ applications for rectification of alleged errors in the AGR calculations.
This decision was confirmed in an in-chambers review on January 28, where the court also declined the request for oral arguments in an open court setting. “Prayer for oral arguments by listing the review petitions in open court is rejected. We have carefully perused the review petitions as also the grounds in support thereof,” stated the bench. The justices emphasized that no substantial case for review was established based on the presented arguments and thereby concluded, “The review petitions are, accordingly, dismissed. Pending application(s), if any, shall stand disposed of.”
The telecom companies had sought a reassessment, citing arithmetic errors and duplication of entries in the AGR calculations, which they argued significantly inflated their dues. The controversy stems from the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in October 2019 on the AGR issue, which was further clarified in September 2020. The court then mandated that telecom service providers pay up a staggering Rs 93,520 crore in AGR-related dues over a 10-year period.
According to the 2020 directive, telecom operators were required to pay 10 percent of the total dues by March 31, 2021, followed by yearly installments from April 1, 2021, to March 31, 2031. The court had stated that the dues calculated by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) were to be considered final, disallowing any dispute or re-assessment by the telecom companies.
