SC agrees to hear Centre plea against TDSAT order on Vodafone Idea

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a petition by the Centre challenging the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal’s (TDSAT’s) order by which it had asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to return bank guarantees worth nearly Rs 2,100 crore to Vodafone Idea.

The matter will be heard with other similar matters in which the government has asked bank guarantees from companies before approving their merger or sale to other telecom companies, the top court said.

The DoT had asked Vodafone Idea the bank guarantee as one-time spectrum charges (OTSC) as a condition for approving the merger of the two companies. Though the companies had then given the bank guarantees, they had challenged the same before TDSAT. The telecom appellate tribunal had in January asked the DoT to refund the said amount to Vodafone Idea within two months.