Payment of dues by telecom companies - Supreme Court pulls up the government for not implementing it’s judgement dated 24.10.2019..

The Supreme Court has pulled up the government of India for not implementing it’s order dated 24.10.2019 on payment of dues by the telecom companies. In it’s order dated 24.10.2019, the Supreme Court laid down the definition for the Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR). According to this order, the telecom companies should pay licence fee, spectrum charges, etc., calculated on their total income, and not only on income from core business. According to this order of the Supreme Court, Vodafone Idea has to pay Rs.53,000 crore and Airtel has to pay Rs.35,000 crore. As per the Supreme Court order, the dues from the telecom companies should be paid within 3 months. However, even 4 months after this judgement, the private companies have not paid even a single naya paisa. It has also come to the light that the government has sent an advisory to the concerned officers stating that “no coercive action should be taken until further orders, to collect the dues from telecom companies.” The Supreme Court severely criticised the government for issuing such an advisory.