SC reserves order on Airtel, Vi plea seeking correction of errors

Supreme Court AGR case hearing HIGHLIGHTS The Supreme Court (SC) has reserved its order in the adjusted gross revenues (AGR) case wherein Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel and Tata Telecommunciations sought rectification in errors and commissions by the Department of Telecommunications vis-a-vis dues demand. Last September, the apex court had reaffirmed dues payable by the telecom companies, particularly, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (VI).

That’s all from CNBC-TV18.com’s coverage of the Supreme Court hearing in the AGR case today.

Here are the key highlights from the case today:

AGR Case –
Voda-Idea claims its about to go under, joins Airtel plea in seeking correction of accounting errors in AGR demand.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informs that he has not received any instructions from DOT on allowing correction of errors.
SC observes that it has said not just once, but twice and thrice that AGR demand can’t be recomputed.
SC reserves order on Bharti Airtel, Voda Idea plea seeking correction of errors in AGR demand.

Voda Idea to SC –
Figure is not cast in stone, SC has power to correct arithmetic error.
My dues are 58,000cr, we are about to go under, Our debts are 1.8 lakh crores.
Let’s us place our calculations before DOT, let DOT take a call.

Bharti Airtel to SC –
In computation of AGR dues there are cases of duplication, payments made not accounted for.
Purely by oversight certain permissible deductions have also not been allowed
Only asking for these issues, errors to be considered by DOT.
Don’t want to pay thousands of crores on account of these errors.

Tata to SC –
But like any tax or fee, AGR has to be in accordance with law.
Judgment prohibits only re-assessment, SC has not barred rectification of calculative errors. CNBCTV 18