SC asks Airtel, Vodafone Idea for road map on payment of AGR dues

The apex court questioned the Department of Telecommunications on the AGR demands raised against the public sector undertakings. The court said its order never dealt with PSUs.

The Supreme Court on Thursday questioned the Centre’s move to ask state-owned firms to pay Rs 2.7 trillion as dues linked to adjusted gross revenue (AGR), calling it “wholly and totally impermissible’’. Seeking an explanation from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on the matter, a bench of Justices Arun Mishra, S Abdul Nazeer and M R Shah said the court’s AGR verdict of October 2019 was misinterpreted as it was silent on dues to be raised from public sector undertakings (PSUs).

In a relief to PSUs including Oil India, GAIL, and Power Grid Corporation, the apex court said the DoT must