Govt. Challenges TDSAT Order Asking It To Return Vodafone Idea Bank Guarantees

The government has challenged the telecom tribunal’s order asking it to return bank guarantees provided by erstwhile Vodafone India and Idea Cellular Ltd. for their merger to go through.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi agreed to hear the plea filed by the Department of Telecommunications. The next date of hearing is yet to be fixed.

The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal had in January ordered the government to return Rs 2,113.5-crore bank guarantees to Vodafone Idea Ltd. The department had sought the guarantee as a one-time spectrum charge to approve the merger between Idea Cellular and Vodafone India to create the nation’s largest wireless carrier.―Bloomberg Quint