Govt charges Infocomm with fraud

Licence may be revoked: Maran.

The department of telecommunications (DoT) has accused Reliance Infocomm of violating its licence by illegally routing international calls as local ones to avoid payment of levies to the public sector telecom companies and alleged the private operator had misrepresented the facts.

Commenting on Infocomm's response to the notice of the Rs 150 crore penalty imposed on the headed by the Mukesh Ambani-headed firm, by the DoT, the Centre said in its counter affidavit in the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate tribunal that the reply by the private operator "established the intentions of the petitioners to continue its deceptions for as long as possible".

The counter-affidavit was filed by the DoT in response to a petition filed by Infocomm, challenging the penalty imposed on it by the government for alleged rerouting of calls.

Meanwhile, NDTV quoted Communication Minister Dayanidhi Maran as saying the government would not be a silent spectator in the Infocomm case and its licence could be revoked in case it did not pay the penalty.