Supreme Court rejects challenge to cabinet's decision to ease telcos'obligations to pay AGR dues

The top court argued that the writ petition submitted by petitioner Anshul Gupta lacked substance

The Supreme Court (SC), the highest court in the nation, has rejected a PIL calling on the federal government to stop providing relief to telecom corporations. The government announced grant relief in September 2021, exempting the financially strapped telecom sector from having to pay statutory dues. A PIL was submitted in opposition to this choice, asking for the grant to be revoked. The SC ruled that these are all policy-related issues and that decisions are made based on the advice of experts, according to a report by PTI.

The top court granted telecom service providers a 10-year window to pay the government their unpaid balance of 93,520 crore on September 1, 2020, providing them with some breathing room as they struggle to make ends meet.

The COVID-19 challenges, with the enormous increase in data consumption, online education, work from home, etc., reform measures were found to be necessary to accelerate the proliferation and penetration of broadband and telecom connectivity, according to a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan.

The bench stated, "In our opinion, all of these are matters of policy and decision-making that must be made in the interest of the welfare of the people of India and have significant technical and financial ramifications. As a result, they must be in the public interest.

In light of this, the bench stated, "we do not think that such Cabinet decisions could be lightly interfered with by a Court of law in the absence of any particulars or materials brought to the Court's attention assailing the Cabinet decisions, as being unconstitutional or arbitrary in nature or contrary to law."

The top court argued that the writ petition submitted by petitioner Anshul Gupta lacked substance and that any involvement at this point would endanger not only the policy's execution but also put it in danger.

The telecom service providers, along with the other stakeholders, are not listed as parties to this petition. As a result, we do not believe it is appropriate to consider this petition at this time, it said.

The Cabinet's decision to start structural and procedural reforms and give relief measures for the telecom service providers may initially appear to be at odds with the supreme court's earlier directives, the court stated.

"Moreover, the other stakeholders, namely, the telecom service providers are not arraigned as parties to this petition. Therefore, at this stage, we do not think it proper to entertain this petition," the court said. "It would have been more appropriate for the central government to have filed an application in this regard," added the court.