The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has stayed the Rs 500 million penalty imposed by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on Idea Cellular for violating licence conditions by merging the firm with Spice Telecom, say news reports.
Passing an interim order, the TDSAT said that the penalty would not be effective till its further order. The TDSAT also said that Idea Cellular has raised a prima facie case, which required to be examined carefully.
TDSAT?s direction came after Idea Cellular put forward a petition challenging the penalty. The DoT had, on February 24, 2011 imposed a penalty of Rs 500 million on Idea Cellular for not providing requisite information about its merger with Spice Telecom despite several requests.
However, it was opposed by Idea Cellular, which said DoT did not provide it with ample opportunities to present its case before imposing the penalty.
As per the terms of the licence, the licensee cannot merge or amalgamate with any other company or create any third party interest till three years of licence. It also provides that a person cannot have 10 per cent or more stake in more that one telecom licensee.
Idea Cellular has held 41.09 per cent stake in Spice Telecommunication since October 17, 2008. On January 31, 2011, Idea Cellular had moved telecom tribunal TDSAT seeking directions to DoT to issue 3G spectrum in
It also had sought directions to the DoT for making necessary amendments in the licence terms so as to make Idea Cellular a licensor of 3G spectrum in
However, the TDSAT stayed its proceedings after the Supreme Court restrained all courts from passing any order on cases related to allocation of spectrum.
Later, on March 16, 2011, an apex court two-member bench of Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice A.K. Ganguly asked TDSAT to take a decision on Idea?s plea.
The High Courts of Gujarat and
