SC provides temporary relief to Airtel over Videocon’s AGR dues

The Supreme Court Tuesday directed DoT not to invoke the bank guarantees (BGs) of Bharti Airtel for three weeks for recovering Rs 1,376 crore in AGR-related dues of Videocon Telecom Ltd (VTL) which had sold its spectrum to the Bharti group.

The top court, which refused to entertain Airtel’s plea that VTL dues are not payable by it, permitted the telecom major to approach the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) with the grievances.

The DoT shall not invoke the bank guarantee of Respondent…(Bharti Airtel) for the period of three weeks from today, a bench comprising justices L Nageswara Rao, S Abdul Nazeer and M R Shah said in its order.