New Delhi: In a major blow to the telcos, including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, the Supreme Court has declined to review its 2021 order, which rejected their pleas for rectification of alleged errors in the calculation of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues payable by the companies.
The apex court on July 23, 2021, dismissed an application of telecom companies seeking rectification of the alleged errors in the calculation of AGR dues.
The order was passed by a bench led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Sanjay Kumar. The top court decided to junk the petitions filed by the telecom majors seeking review of the 2021. The order was passed in-chambers on January 28, which was recently uploaded on the website of the top court. The apex court also rejected the prayer for oral arguments by listing the review petitions in open Court.
"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. In our opinion, no case for review of the order dated July 23, 2021, passed in miscellaneous applications is made out. The review petitions are, accordingly, dismissed. Pending application(s), if any, shall stand disposed of," said the order.
The telcos had argued that "glaring errors" were present in the government's demand calculations. The companies had stressed that payments already made by the companies were not considered when determining the outstanding AGR dues.
The top court in July 2021, declined to entertain a plea for corrections in the AGR dues demand. The telecom companies again moved the apex court claiming there were errors in calculating the AGR dues, which was nearly Rs one lakh crore. The apex court in September 2024, had junked a batch of petitions from telecom firms, including Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel, regarding the re-computation of AGR dues.
