New Delhi: The Supreme Court is set to hear on Monday a plea of telecom major Vodafone Idea Ltd. seeking quashing of the Department of Telecommunication’s (DoT) additional adjusted gross revenue (AGR) demands for the period up to 2016-17.
AGR is the income figure used to calculate the licence fees and spectrum charges that telecom companies must pay to the government.
According to the apex court website, a bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justices K Vinod Chandran and Vipul M Pancholi is scheduled to hear the plea on October 27 when the top court resumes working after Diwali vacation.
The hearing on the petition has been adjourned in the past on several occasions at the request of the telecom firm and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre.
VIL has filed a fresh plea against the DoT’s demand of Rs 5,606 crore relating to 2016-17.
Earlier, the Centre said that efforts were underway to arrive at a resolution with the company.
Mehta said the government held nearly 50 per cent equity in Vodafone Idea, making it a direct stakeholder in the operator’s survival.
“Some solution may have to be found out, subject to your lordship’s approval...,” the law officer had said.
VIL has sought a direction to the DoT to “comprehensively re-assess and reconcile all AGR dues for the period up to FY 2016-17 following the ‘Deduction Verification Guidelines’” dated February 3, 2020.
Earlier this year, in a setback to telecom majors, including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, the apex court refused to review its 2021 order rejecting their pleas for rectification of alleged errors in the calculation of AGR dues payable by them.
The telecom companies argued that arithmetical errors in the calculation should be rectified and that there were cases of duplication of entries.