NCLAT stays DoT show-cause notice to RCom; next hearing on April 8

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Tuesday stayed any action by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on the two show cause notices it had issued to Reliance Communications (RCom) until further orders. The DoT had issued the notices on March 14 and 15.

A two-member bench headed by Chairperson Justice S J Mukhopadhaya also stayed the operation of a DoT letter of March 20, in which it asked Axis Bank to encash a bank guarantee of Rs 2,000 crore by the Anil Ambani group firm.

In the first show cause notice, the DoT had sought to know why the bank guarantees submitted by debt-laden telecom service provider should not be invoked by the government. In the second notice, the department sought to know why RCom’s spectrum licence should not be cancelled for failing to pay spectrum fees on time.