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New Delhi:
The Supreme Court on Monday requested Department of Telecom (DoT) to apprise it as the way it plans to get well Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) associated dues from telecom corporations dealing with insolvency proceedings and whether or not spectrum given to those corporations might be bought.
The DoT informed the highest court docket that their stand is that the spectrum can’t be bought by the telecom corporations dealing with insolvency proceedings as it isn’t their property.
A bench of Justices Arun Mishra, S Abdul Nazeer and M R Shah requested Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, showing for the DoT, to apprise it as to the way it plans to get well the AGR associated dues from these corporations.
“Please tell us what will happen to the DoT’s AGR related dues, if the companies like RCOM, Aircel and Videocon go into insolvency then what would happen to the said amount. Tell us how you will recover Rs 31,000 from RCOM and Rs 12,000 crore from Aircel. You have to do something. This is public money,” the bench informed Mr Mehta.
It stated the court docket wants to establish the bonafides of the telecom corporations who’ve gone underneath proceedings underneath Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).
Mr Mehta stated that he can be submitting an affidavit on this regard. He stated telecom corporations are at various phases of insolvency proceedings.
The regulation officer stated that their enchantment towards the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) order has been pending earlier than the highest court docket on the query whether or not the spectrum given to the businesses might be bought or not.
The bench requested Mr Mehta as to why did NCLAT dismiss their petition towards sale of spectrum to which he replied that because of delay in submitting of enchantment towards the order.
“Why was the delay in filing the appeal? What would happen if the spectrum is sold out by then?” the bench stated.
It stated that the court docket needs to enter reason behind initiation of insolvency for these telecom corporations and needs to learn about their liabilities and what was the urgency for pushing for insolvency.
The bench stated it needed to know as how insolvency proceedings have been initiated towards Reliance Communication (RCOM) even after the operational creditor the Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson was paid its dues.
“How were the proceedings under IBC, revived when the Supreme Court had in its 2019 order directed for settlement of dues of Ericsson?” the bench stated.
Senior advocate Shyam Divan, showing for Resolution Professional for RCOM, narrated the sequence of occasions to the bench.
The bench stated, “our order is binding for all courts and tribunals. How can NCLAT revive insolvency proceedings despite payment to Ericsson?”
The bench requested the businesses to file the affidavit giving every element by the following date of listening to.
Senior advocate Ravi Kadam, showing for Aircel, stated as per the corporate the spectrum might be bought because it was talked about within the phrases and situation that it’s transferable and the corporate has made an upfront fee for it.
“Since the spectrum is transferable therefore, it can be sold”, he stated.
He stated this stand of the corporate has been upheld by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
Mr Kadam stated that Aircel was not going into liquidation as a decision plan has been authorised by the NCLT.
The bench then requested the SG to come back ready on the following date of listening to as how the spectrum might be bought.
On July 20, the highest court docket made it clear it is not going to hear “even for a second” the arguments on reassessment or re-calculation of the AGR associated dues of telecom corporations which run into about Rs 1.6 lakh crore.
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