Telecom majors such as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea on Wednesday sought an early open court hearing on their petitions for a review of the Supreme Court order that directed the telecom companies to pay over Rs 1.47 lakh crore to the department of telecommunications (DoT) in penalties.
The plea was mentioned before a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra, who said he will decide after talking to Chief Justice S.A. Bobde.
Legal experts said applications for review are not, unless the court directs, listed for open hearing in the initial stage at least and could be summarily rejected if found to be of no prima facie merit.
In an open court hearing, persons other than the parties concerned are allowed to be present in the court to witness the proceeding for greater judicial transparency. However, the court resorts to in-camera hearing in sensitive cases, especially matrimonial disputes and rape cases.
To protect the identity of the victim only the counsel for prosecution and defence and the witnesses (at the time they are giving witness) are allowed to be present, which is generally held inside the judges’ chambers.
The apex court had on October 24 last year upheld the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) definition formulated by the department of telecom and termed as “frivolous” the nature of objections raised by the telecom service providers.
Bharti Airtel, in its plea, had sought a review of the directions on levy of interest, penalty and interest on penalty, a source related to the development had said.
Telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had told Parliament in November that Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and other telecom companies owe the government as much as Rs 1.47 lakh crore in past statutory dues.
Airtel QIP launched
Bharti Airtel has launched a qualified institutional placement (QIP) that seeks to raise up to $2 billion. In a filing to the bourses, Airtel said the floor price has been set at Rs 452.09 apiece. The company may offer a discount of up to 5 per cent on this.
The board has also decided to come out with a foreign currency convertible issue to raise up to $1 billion.