[ By Bobby Anthony ]The Supreme Court has come down heavily on the telecom companies for not paying adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues to the tune of Rs 1.47 lakh crore to the government and summoned their top executives before it to explain why its order on clearing dues was not followed.A Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Mishra has ordered the managing directors of Bharti Airtel ,...
The Supreme Court has come down heavily on the telecom companies for not paying adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues to the tune of Rs 1.47 lakh crore to the government and summoned their top executives before it to explain why its order on clearing dues was not followed.
A Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Mishra has ordered the managing directors of Bharti Airtel , Vodafone, MTNL, BSNL, Reliance Communications, Tata Telecommunication and others to be present in the court on March 17.
The court also warned telecom companies that it may initiate contempt proceedings against them and government officials for not complying with its order.
The court also directed the central government to immediately withdraw an order passed by its desk officer about not taking coercive action against the telecom companies.
Justice Mishra added that telecom companies haven't even paid a single penny and the government officer wants a stay on the SC order.
The Supreme Court warned that this government officer is liable to a jail term if that order was not withdrawn within an hour.
Earlier, Justice Arun Mishra had ordered telecom companies to pay adjusted gross revenue (AGR) to the government.
On January 16, Justice Mishra-led bench had dismissed review petitions filed by telecom companies seeking a review of its earlier order asking them to pay Rs 1.47 lakh crore in statutory dues by January 23, saying that it did not find any “justifiable reason” to entertain them.