Supreme Court dismisses challenge to cabinet decision to relax payment of AGR dues by telecom companies

The Supreme Court recently dismissed a plea seeking cancellation of the Union government Cabinet's September 2021 decision to relax the payment terms of the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) amounts due from telecom companies. [Anshul Gupta vs Prime Minister Office].In an order passed on September 1, a bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan stated that it would not be justified to interfere with a 'well-calibrated' policy decision taken based on expert opinion and emerging exigencies in public interest.The Court also noted that the COVID pandemic had necessitated such a decision by the government since there was an increase in data usage owing to the rise of online education and virtual meetings. This required huge investments to be made by telcos so that their systems stayed intact despite the rise in internet usage, the bench added.."The people depended heavily on the telecom sector and particularly on the TSPs in order to keep in touch with one another as there were lockdowns declared in the country in March, 2020 and for successive periods thereafter, in several places owing to the COVID-19 pandemic which necessitated what may be called “social distancing” and as a result there was “distant socialising” ... we could emphasise that video conferencing facility and virtual mode was adapted quickly not only by various stakeholders such as Government offices, schools, other private organisations but most significantly by law Courts which did not cease to function during the COVID-19 pandemic," the Court added..The bench also expressed its reluctance to interfere in policy matters in the absence of any material indicating the same was illegal, arbitrary, or unconstitutional. "In our view, these are all matters of policy and decision making which is on the basis of experts’ opinion and on emerging situations and exigencies, to be made in the interest of the welfare of the people of India having serious technical and financial implications and, therefore, have to be in public interest," the Court said. .The Court was dealing with a plea to enforce a 2020 judgment rendered by the Supreme Court in the matter. .Initially, the Supreme Court had, in October 2019, held that AGR dues from telecos would include non-telecom revenue, as a result of which the telcos were straddled with dues of over ₹92,000 crores as license fees.In the 2020 judgment, the top court allowed the telecom companies to pay these charges within a period of ten years.In July 2021, the Court also dismissed pleas by Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Idea and Tata seeking a correction of the amount due..Months later, in September 2021, the Central government relaxed the payment terms for the telecom companies by providing, among other things, the following reliefs:- Non-telecom revenue was excluded on a prospective basis from the definition of AGR;- Bank guarantee requirements were reduced;- Interest or penalties on existing late dues were waived off;- Staggered payments were permitted for payment of license and spectrum usage fees, with the latter being removed from future spectrum auctions..This cabinet decision was challenged before the Supreme Court by one Anshul Gupta by way of a writ petition. The Court by way if its present judgment dismissed this plea, although it commented that the Central government ought to have ideally filed an affidavit regarding its September 2021 decision to ease the payment terms. .The petitioner, Anshul Gupta appeared in person..[Read Order]