SC junks PIL seeking cancellation of Centre's relief to stressed telcos from paying statutory dues
Supreme Court has dismissed a PIL seeking cancellation of Centre's decision of September 15, 2021 to grant relief to the stressed telecom sector from paying statutory dues, saying these are all matters of policy and decision-making is on the basis of experts' opinion.
In a breather to telecom service providers struggling to pay Rs 93,520 crore of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) related dues, the top court on September 1, 2020 gave them a 10-year period to clear their outstanding amount to the government.
A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan said that no doubt, the apex court by its judgment had issued certain directions with regard to the telecom sector but in the backdrop of the COVID-19 challenges, with huge surge in data consumption, online education, work from home, etc., reform measures were found necessary to boost the proliferation and penetration of broadband and telecom connectivity.
«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.
»Hence, we do not think such Cabinet decisions could be lightly interfered with by a Court of law in the absence of there being any particulars or materials brought to the notice of the Court assailing the Cabinet decisions, as being unconstitutional or arbitrary in nature or contrary to law," the bench said.
Trai paper: Telcos and OTT players at loggerheads again on regulation
Contending that the writ petition filed by petitioner Anshul Gupta was without merit, the top court said any
