The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has reserved its order on Bharti Airtel’s petition against the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), which had imposed a penalty of Rs 500 million on it. This was on grounds of the operator allegedly violating licence terms and conditions by issuing bulk mobile connections.
A TDSAT bench, headed by its Chairman Justice S.B. Sinha, reserved its order after hearing the arguments of both parties. On September 19, 2011, DoT had imposed a penalty on the operator after it found that the company had issued 1,847 bulk mobile connections to Falcon Business Resource and 741 to Galaxy Rent, violating the terms and conditions of the licence agreement.
However, the penalty order was stayed by the TDSAT on October 5, 2011, until it issued further orders. “In the meantime, the respondent [DoT] may not take coercive steps to implement the impugned order dated September 19, 2011,” TDSAT said while issuing a notice to DoT.
