The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has directed Reliance Communications (RCOM) to deposit Rs 200 million with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), say news reports.
As per the Tribunal?s direction, RCOM will pay Rs 150 million as bank guarantee and another Rs 5 million as penalty to DoT. These penalties were imposed by DoT on RCOM as the operator had failed to complete and file verification details for its subscribers in Assam within the prescribed time-limit laid down by DoT.
DoT, on September 21, 2012, had imposed a penalty of Rs 398.2 million on RCOM for not completing the verification of Customer’s Application Form (CAF) in the Assam circle by April, 2012.
According to DoT, only 67.08 per cent subscribers were correctly verified by RCOM during April, 2012 and there were 1,991 cases of missing CAFs and non-compliance of address proof with photograph.
However, RCOM challenged DoT?s claims before TDSAT. It contended that there were only 81 CAF which were not verified and it would be required to pay Rs 81,000 only.
TDSAT has now ruled in favour of DoT and stated that if RCOM deposits the amount within two weeks then no coercive action would be taken against it by DoT.
