Supreme Court Rejects Telecom Firms’ Pleas On Adjusted Gross Revenue Dues; Dismisses Curative Petitions

In a significant setback to telecom giants Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel, the Supreme Court has dismissed a series of pleas filed by the companies seeking correction of alleged errors in the calculation of their Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues. The Apex Court also denied their request for an open court hearing on the matter through curative petitions.

The Bench of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, and Justice B.R. Gavai ruled that the curative petitions did not meet the criteria for reconsideration of previous verdicts, as established in the case of Rupa Ashok Hurra v. Ashok Hurra.

The Court, in its order dated August 30 (uploaded on September 14), stated, "Application for listing the Curative Petitions in open Court is rejected. We have gone through the Curative Petitions and the connected documents. In our opinion, no case is made out within the parameters indicated in the decision of this court in Rupa Ashok Hurra v Ashok Hurra (2002) 4 SCC 388. The Curative Petitions are dismissed."

The telecom companies had sought a review of the Department of Telecommunications’ (DoT) calculations regarding the AGR dues, alleging mathematical errors that led to inflated demands. Vodafone Idea faces a liability of Rs. 58,254 crore, while Bharti Airtel owes ₹43,980 crore in AGR dues.

Despite these objections, the Court has consistently maintained that the DoT’s demand for AGR dues is final and cannot be reassessed. In July 2021, the Court dismissed an earlier plea by the telcos seeking corrections in the AGR calculations, which amounted to over Rs. 1 lakh crore collectively.

The Court had previously ruled in 2020 that telecom companies must pay their AGR dues over a 10-year period. The firms were required to pay 10% of their total dues by March 31, 2021, with the remainder to be settled in yearly instalments from April 1, 2021, to March 31, 2031.

Cause Title: Vodafone Idea Limited v. Union of India

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