Supreme Court Addresses Vodafone Idea’s Plea on AGR Dues Correction

On Monday, the Supreme Court acknowledged a telecom company’s request to consider its plea for correcting alleged errors in Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) related dues

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, Justice J B Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra was approached by senior advocate Harish Salve, representing Vodafone Idea, who emphasized the need for the petition to be reviewed.

Vodafone Idea mentioned that their curative petition, which challenges the dismissal of previous pleas for correcting alleged errors in AGR-related dues, has not yet been scheduled for a hearing.

“I will see,” the CJI responded, inquiring whether an email had been sent regarding this matter.

On October 9 of the previous year, the Supreme Court had noted submissions from several telecom companies requesting the listing of their pleas concerning AGR dues. These companies cited alleged arithmetic errors in the Department of Telecommunications’ (DoT) calculation of AGR dues.

In July 2021, the Supreme Court dismissed a plea seeking to rectify errors in the demand for AGR dues. The telecom companies claimed numerous inaccuracies in the calculation of AGR dues, which amounted to over ₹1 lakh crore.

Vodafone-Idea’s total liability was ₹58,254 crore, while Bharti Airtel’s stood at ₹43,980 crore. Previously, the Supreme Court had granted telecom companies a 10-year period to clear their outstanding dues to the government.

The court had affirmed that the demand raised by DoT regarding AGR dues would be final. It also ruled that telecom companies could not dispute the amount or request a reassessment.

The court mandated that telecom operators pay 10% of the total dues demanded by DoT by March 31, 2021, with the remaining amount to be paid in yearly installments from April 1, 2021, to March 31, 2031.