SC slams telcos for holding payment, sets March 17 as deadline to clear AGR dues

The Supreme Court has slammed telecom companies for not paying dues worth thousands of crores to the government and summoned their top executives to explain why they did not follow the court's order to pay up.

The apex court also hit out on a government officer who issued an order saying the recovery order of the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) won't be operational.

A bench of justices Arun Mishra, S Abdul Nazeer and MR Shah was hearing a batch of petitions filed by telecom companies in open court on February 14.

The pleas filed by Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel, and Tata Teleservices had sought more time for payment of AGR related dues.

“Should we wind up the supreme court? Is there any law left in the country?” asked the bench.

Also Read: Vodafone Idea plunges 8% post SC dismisses review petition

Earlier on January 16, a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra had dismissed review petitions of telecom firms seeking review of its earlier order asking them to pay Rs 1.47 lakh crore in statutory dues by January 23, saying it did not find any "justifiable reason" to entertain them.

The apex court had on October 24 last year ruled that the statutory dues need to be calculated by including non-telecom revenues in AGR of telcos.

It had upheld the AGR definition formulated by the DoT and termed as "frivolous" the nature of objections raised by the telecom service providers.