Telecom Stocks Mixed After Top Court Refuses Relief On Statutory Dues

Telecom stocks have crashed in afternoon trading after the Supreme Court, in a big setback for telecom companies, dismissed the Centre's plea to review its order asking telecom firms to immediately clear dues, dubbing it "Sheer contempt." The Supreme Court also pulled up the Centre and telcos for doing self-assessment or reassessment of the AGR dues fixed by the apex court on October 24 last year.

At 2.10 pm, Vodafone Idea plunged 35 per cent to Rs 3, Tata Teleservices shed 4 per cent to Rs 2.30 and Bharti Airtel shed 6 per cent at Rs 426. The BSE Sensex nosedived 1,709 points or 5.5 per cent.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on Monday had moved the Supreme Court seeking its approval for a 20-year window for payment of around Rs. 1.47 lakh crores Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues, as adverse functioning of the telecom firms could have a negative impact on the economy and consumers across the country.

"The Centre is conscious of the fact that any immediate adverse impact on the functioning of telecom service providers would not only have an adverse impact on the overall economy of the nation but would also seriously harm the interest of the consumers across the country," the Centre had argued in its petition.

In its order, the three-judge bench led by Justice Mishra, and comprising Justices S Abdul Nazeer and MR Shah held that no self-assessment can be done and no further objection would be entertained against payment dues.

"If reassessment is permitted - it is fraud on this court. We won't spare officials who allowed reassessment of telecom dues," the Supreme Court said, ordering the Department of Telecom (DoT) to withdraw its move to allow reassessment.