A bank headed by Judge Arun Mishra allowed his request to deposit the amount in installments and allowed until 2031 to settle the installments. The Center begged the court to grant them 20 years, but the court only granted ten years to telecommunications companies.
The court said that telecommunications companies will have to pay 10 percent of their fees by the end of the current fiscal year. He said that the court granted time until March 31, 2021 for the first installments due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The bank asked the managing director (MD) or chief executive officer (CEO) of the telecommunications companies in question to provide a personal or pledge guarantee within four weeks for the payment of the fees.
The court also made it clear that in the event of non-compliance with installment payments, telecommunications companies will not only be liable for contempt of court, but will also have to pay a penalty for late payment.
However, the court declined to rule on whether the spectrum of an insolvent telecommunications company could be sold and left the matter to the decision of NCLAT.
On February 14, the SC had ordered telecommunications companies to pay AGR-related liabilities to the government by March 17. Subsequently, the telecommunications companies had partially or fully paid their self-assessed AGR fees to the government.
Vodafone Idea, considered the most vulnerable if the court did not allow tiered payments, has so far paid Rs 7,854 crore ($ 1.08 billion), but still owes approximately Rs 50,000 crore to the government.
Bharti Airtel has said that it has paid its full installments of Rs 18,000 crore based on the self-assessment, but still has to pay another Rs 25,976 crore, according to government estimates.
(With contributions from the agency)
.
