Government should cancel licences if dues not paid: Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday reserved its judgement on the plea by telecom firms seeking a staggered payment schedule for their massive AGR dues, most of which remains unpaid. The day’s proceedings also saw the bench make a crucial observation: If spectrum trading guidelines mandate the clearing of dues before such transactions, then the government should cancel spectrum licenses where statutory dues have not been paid; these could then be auctioned off—possibly for a higher value.

In its submission to the bench of Justices Arun Mishra, S Abdul Nazeer, and M R Shah, the Department of Telecom (DoT) had said that spectrum trading guidelines require the seller to satisfy all pending dues before the sale of spectrum. They also allow the DoT to seek dues on any revenues from such spectrum from both the seller and buyer, “jointly or severally”.