AGR dues case: SC resumes hearing; here's what's happened so far

The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday resumed the hearing in the Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) case related to telcos. On Wednesday, the top court had said that it will not go into apportionment of resolution plan funds between sets of creditors.

The apex court was also informed by the RCom during the same hearing that it will be forced to go into liquidation if spectrum is not allowed to be sold under the insolvency process. Telcos such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and others had appealed to the apex court to allow them to make staggered payments of their AGR dues.

On Tuesday, Reliance Jio told the Supreme Court that it has already paid Rs 195 crore in AGR-related dues which included spectrum sharing charge of RCom. It said there is no question of one operator paying the AGR related dues of another firm, as suggested by the apex court earlier, and it has cleared all its dues. Mukesh Ambani-led Jio told the apex court however that if still any amount remains pending from sharing of spectrum of RCom, it is willing to pay that.

A bench of Justices Arun Mishra, S Abdul Nazeer and M R Shah, which is hearing the matter on a daily basis now, was told by senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Jio and Committee of Creditors (CoC) of RCom, that it would be premature to decide if spectrum can be sold or not under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

On August 10, the Supreme Court had asked the DoT to apprise it on August 14 about how it plans to recover AGR related dues from telecom companies facing insolvency proceedings and whether spectrum given to these companies can be sold. On July 20, the top court had reserved its order on permitting telecom firms to make staggered payments of AGR dues over 15 years. In October 2019, SC had upheld the government's broader definition of AGR.

Also read: AGR case: No technicalities to come in way of recovery of dues, says SC

Also read: AGR case: 'Should Reliance Jio pay RCom's dues,' Supreme Court asks govt