Order to telecom department not to exceed Bharti Airtel's bank guarantee for three weeks

Rs. Videocon's outstanding AGR case of Rs 1376 crore

Partial relief to Bharti Airtel: Supreme Court also allows Airtel to approach TDSAT

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has granted partial relief to Bharti Airtel in the case of Videocon Telecommunication's AGR arrears. The Supreme Court has directed the telecom department not to cash in on Bharti Airtel's bank guarantee for three months.

The Department of Telecommunications (DOT) sent a notice to Airtel on August 17 stating that its bank guarantee would be cashed if it did not pay the outstanding amount of Rs 1,376 crore within a week.

However, a bench headed by Justice L Nageshwar Rao allowed Bharti Airtel to approach the Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) for relief. A bench comprising Justice L Nageshwar Rao, Justice S Abdul Nazir and Justice MR Shah said in its order that the telecom department has been directed not to cash Bharti Airtel's bank guarantee for three weeks from today.

Bharti Airtel bought Spectrum from Videocon. Videocon sold spectrum rights in the 1800 MHz band in 6 circles in 2016 to Bharti Airtel for Rs 4,428 crore. Bharti Airtel believes that Videoco should pay the arrears itself. However, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the notice sent by the DOT to Bharti Airtel was in line with the apex court order.

The DOT filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court stating that Airtel had refused to pay the outstanding amount to Videocon. Videocon has an AGR of Rs 1376 crore. Bharti Airtel, a company led by Sunil Mittal, has claimed that it has so far paid Rs 18,004 crore to the government as arrears of AGR.