Industry Odisha Bureau, Jun 9: Granting a major relief of Rs 24,000 crore to private telecom operators Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (VI), the Bombay High Court (HC) yesterday (June 8) reportedly quashed the Central Government’s demand notices slapped against the duo seeking one-time spectrum charges (OTSC).
Reportedly, the Central Government’s demand notices were slapped against Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (VI) “seeking one-time spectrum charges (OTSC) over the levy on spectrum held beyond 6.2 megahertz (MHz) from 2008 onwards.”
While the legal battle spanned over 13 years, the Bombay HC’s ruling would now reportedly “provide a total relief of over ₹24,000 crore to the Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (VI).”
Reports said that, “Besides setting aside the Central Government’s decisions of November and December 2012, the Bombay HC directed that the bank guarantees furnished by the two private telecom operators in connection with the disputed demands be returned. It also quashed all consequential actions taken by authorities.”
However, reports added that, “the broader legal battle over OTSC remains pending before the Supreme Court (SC) through multiple parallel proceedings.”
Need to be mentioned here that, the dispute dates back to 2012, because the Central Government decided to “levy a one-time charge on spectrum holdings beyond the prescribed threshold.”
Accordingly, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) subsequently “raised demands on existing telecom operators for spectrum held beyond 6.2MHz with retrospective effect from July 2008.”
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