Delhi High Court denies intervention in TRAI's decision to fine Vodafone for Rs 1,050 Cr

The petitioners said they requested TRAI to withdraw the recommendation, but to no avail after which they moved the high court.

The Delhi High court has declined to intervene with the TRAI's suggestion to fine two Vodafone businesses Rs 1,050 cr for supposed refusal to interconnect with Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd under an Interconnection Agreement signed between them.

In its ruling on May 24, a bench consisting of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad stated that the TDSAT has been given authority to handle any disputes arising under the TRAI Act.

In accordance with a report by PTI, The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), which is an expert body established by statute to resolve disputes arising under that statute, is also challenging the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI) October 21, 2016 recommendation, which has been challenged here, the high court noted.

On September 29, 2021, the Central government issued an order penalising the petitioner companies for breaking the terms of the licence agreement and the standards of the 2009 regulations governing basic telephone service (wireline) and cellular mobile telephone service (QOS).

According to the report, the bench said, "After the tribunal gives the conclusion that the order dated September 29, 2021 passed by the respondent no.2 (government) is not sustainable in law, then automatically the recommendation dated October 21, 2016 which is under challenge in the instant writ petitions would be set aside. This court finds considerable force in the arguments advanced by the senior counsel for the respondents that any observations made by this court in the instant writ petitions will have an adverse impact on the Telecom Petitions which have been filed before the TDSAT. "

The petitions brought by Vodafone Mobile Services and Vodafone Idea were dismissed by the high court, which also made it clear that it had not formed any conclusions about the case's legal merits.

The recommendation from October 21, 2016, which is being contested in the current petitions, is always up for the tribunal to consider on the merits, the court further stated.

On September 21, 2016, TRAI (Telecom Regulatory authority of India) released a recommendation in which it found the petitioners responsible for failing to provide Point of Interconnections (POI) to RJIL and recommended imposing a penalty of Rs. 50 crore per circle for 21 Licenced Service Areas (LSA) where POI congestion exceeded the permitted limit of 0.5 percent.The petitioners said that after unsuccessfully asking TRAI to revoke the recommendation, they sought the high court.

Vodafone has contested the recommendation for disciplinary action made by TRAI to the Secretary of the Department of Telecommunication, claiming that the recommendation was illegal and should be overturned.