DoT asks for Rs 7608 Crore from GAIL in AGR dues for 2017-18
Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has asked for Rs 7,608 crore in annual gross revenue dues for 2017-18 from GAIL (India). DoT will not press for immediate payment of Rs 1.83 lakh crore in past statutory dues as previously assessed.
After the February 14 hearing in Supreme Court on dues owned by telecom companies such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, DoT sent a notice to GAIL, as per sources.
The dues now being sought from GAIL include a penalty for late payment, they said.
The Supreme Court’s original ruling in October last year led the DoT to demand Rs 1.47 lakh crore in unpaid dues on licence fees and spectrum usage charges from telecom companies such as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea.
Its demand related to a 14-year-old dispute regarding the definition of Adjusted Gross Revenue, which the Supreme Court agreed should include all kinds of income generated by the telecom companies.
DoT has also demanded over Rs 3 lakh crore from non-telecom PSUs such as GAIL, Oil India and Power Grid. This demand is for telecom licences these firms had primarily acquired for internal communication purposes.
For GAIL, the DoT assessed an outstanding of Rs 1,83,076 crore towards annual licence fee in respect of IP-II Licence. This included interests and penalty, sources said.
GAIL and other non-telecom firms felt the October 2019 ruling of the Supreme Court did not apply to them and filed petitions seeking clarification from the apex court.
On Feb. 14, the Supreme Court rejected telecom companies’ petition regarding relaxation in the payments. To non-telecom firms, it asked to approach appropriate forums for redressal of their grievance.
Refusing to comment on the DoT demand, GAIL Chairman and Managing Director Manoj Jain said the Supreme Court on Feb. 14 allowing the non-telecom firms to withdraw their petition is indicative enough that “our case is different” than telecom companies’.
“We are working on what appropriate forum should we go to for an appeal against the DoT order,” he said. “We have already paid whatever was due and according to us there is no outstanding.” On the Rs 1.83 lakh crore assessment by the DoT, GAIL had previously in a regulatory filing stated that these were unrelated to the terms and conditions of its IP-II Licence.
“Based on the legal option sought in this regard and facts of the case, the company is of the view, that the amount assessed in provisional assessment orders is legally not tenable,” it had said.
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