SC junks PIL seeking cancellation of Centre’s relief to stressed telcos from paying statutory dues

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has dismissed a PIL seeking cancellation of Centre’s decision of September 15, 2021 to grant relief to the stressed telecom sector from paying statutory dues, saying these are all matters of policy and decision-making is on the basis of experts’ opinion. In a breather to telecom service providers struggling to pay Rs 93,520 crore of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) related dues, the top court on September 1, 2020 gave them a 10-year period to clear their outstanding amount to the government.

A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan said that no doubt, the apex court by its judgment had issued certain directions with regard to the telecom sector but in the backdrop of the COVID-19 challenges, with huge surge in data consumption, online education, work from home, etc., reform measures were found necessary to boost the proliferation and penetration of broadband and telecom connectivity.