On October 24 last year, other telecom companies including Airtel, Vodafone-Idea and Reliance Jio suffered a major setback. In fact, on this day, the Supreme Court ordered these telecom companies to repay the government's outstanding gross revenue (AGR).
With this, the Supreme Court had also fixed the deadline till 23 January 2020. Now this deadline is over. Till this time Airtel and Vodafone-Idea have not paid the arrears. At the same time, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio has paid Rs 195 crore.
Telecom companies, which have not paid dues, have received a slight relief from the government. Actually, the telecom department has decided not to take any action against these companies at present. The department has taken this decision in view of the petition filed by the telecom companies to increase the deadline of payment in the Supreme Court.
In fact, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone-Idea had sent letters to the telecom department saying that they will not pay the dues of Rs 88,624 crore within the stipulated time. Companies will wait for the hearing on the petition filed in the Supreme Court to extend the deadline in relation to this payment.
Let us tell you that on Tuesday, the telecom companies had filed a petition in the Supreme Court, seeking to increase the deadline. The matter is scheduled for hearing next week. Earlier, the telecom companies had petitioned the Supreme Court to consider the decision. This petition was rejected by the Supreme Court.
Relief to Non-Telecom Companies!
Meanwhile, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that non-telecom companies like GAIL, Oil India and Power Grid do not have any outstanding arrears under AGR. Dharmendra Pradhan has called it a 'misunderstanding'. Please tell here that the Telecom Department has asked GAIL India to pay dues of Rs 1.72 lakh crore, Oil India Rs 48,000 crore, Power Grid Rs 40,000 crore, Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers Rs 15,019 crore and some other companies like RailTel . At the same time, these companies have filed a petition for clarification in the Supreme Court after receiving the notice of the Telecom Department.
What is AGR?
The AGR dispute between the telecom companies and the government is about 14 years old. AGR is the usage and licensing fees charged by companies from the Department of Telecom of the Telecom Ministry. It has two parts – spectrum usage charge and licensing fees, which are 3-5% and 8% respectively.
