While hearing the case on the AGR (adjusted gross revenue) related dues, the Supreme Court has come down strongly on the Department Of Telecommunications (DoT) for serving demand notices to PSUs.
The apex court has asked the DoT to withdraw its demands issued to public sector companies like Power Grid, GAIL, OIL, etc. It further stated that as per judgement dated October 24, 2019, only telecom companies were asked to pay around Rs 1 trillion in dues related to AGR.
Earlier, following the Supreme Court’s order on definition of AGR, the DoT had served demand notices to government-owned companies as well which owned some telecom infrastructure and used it to provide some B2B services. In some cases, the demand was more than the total annual revenues of the companies.
DoT has now been directed to clarify raising of such demands. The Solicitor General has told the apex court that PSUs were license holders as per government’s justification, and DoT will file necessary affidavits to explain its position.
