Officials in the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) have strongly backed a demand for additional AGR dues sent to telcos after the Supreme Court’s order on the issue in October 2019, saying the notices did not flout the ruling, according to an ETTelecom report.
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Earlier this week, Vodafone Idea (Vi) moved the apex court against a fresh demand of Rs 9,450 crore, arguing that the DoT’s action violated previous Supreme Court rulings that had crystallised dues up to FY17 and barred any reassessment. Bharti Airtel, which faces similar demands, may also contest the matter, people aware of the development reportedly said. Reliance Jio, which was not party to the original litigation, is understood to have cleared its relatively minor additional dues.
DoT Says Demands Are Not Reassessment
DoT officials, however, defended the fresh demands, insisting that these were not a reassessment or recalculation of dues, but part of finalising accounts for certain telecom circles that had remained incomplete at the time of the 2019 judgment. “The demand notices were valid and sent for certain gaps, which were not calculated at the time of the Supreme Court (SC) judgement, and an affidavit regarding the same was duly filed in the apex court by the DoT,” an official was quoted as saying in the report.
The official added that the amount, which was part of the judgement, was not altered. “The additional amount was for certain circles, where the accounting was under process at the time of the judgement.” According to the report, the department will file the requisite details with the top court when Vi’s petition is accepted and comes up for hearing.
Former Officials Cite Complexities
A former DoT official reportedly noted that it takes years to calibrate or finalise the statutory dues, including AGR dues, as it involves various regional offices of DoT, in addition to the country’s 22 telecom circles whose data must be combined and calculated.
“If some accounting was not completed by the time of the SC judgement, does it mean it should not be realised by the government. To tackle this, the DoT had filed an affidavit concerning such dues to the SC,” the former official was quoted as saying.
Vodafone Idea Moves to SC
Vodafone Idea has once again moved the SC, questioning the DoT’s move to raise an additional demand of Rs 9,450 crore toward AGR dues. The instalment of the AGR dues, including the additional amount, is due by March 31, 2026.
Vi has challenged the additional demand by the DoT, citing earlier SC judgements, which had sealed the amount until FY17 and refused to alter or change the liability. It claimed that the highest court had prohibited re-assessment of the AGR dues, and, therefore, the DoT’s move was “unjust, unfair and arbitrary” in seeking additional demands.
So far, the operator has paid Rs 7,900 crore against the government’s demand of Rs 58,300 crore, compared with its own self-assessment of Rs 21,500 crore. Airtel has paid about Rs 18,000 crore, including an ad hoc payment of Rs 5,000 crore, against the DoT’s estimate of Rs 44,000 crore. Airtel had assessed its liability at roughly Rs 13,000 crore.
AGR dispute
The AGR dispute has been among the most contentious in India’s telecom sector. As per the Supreme Court’s September 2020 order, telcos are liable to pay Rs 1.47 lakh crore in dues, nearly three-fourths of which comprise interest, penalties, and interest on penalties. Of this, licence fee dues account for Rs 92,642 crore and spectrum usage charges for Rs 55,054 crore.
Despite the amounts crystalised up to FY17, the DoT has been raising additional demands, saying that the dues claimed “are above and beyond, the AGR dues as finalised” by the SC, Vi reportedly said in its plea.
Government to File Detailed Submissions in SC
The additional dues sought by the DoT are payable by March 31, 2026. The government is expected to file detailed submissions in the Supreme Court when Vodafone Idea’s petition is taken up for hearing, according to the report.
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