Telecom majors Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea moved the Supreme Court on Friday seeking review of certain directions passed in its judgment favouring the government on the recovery of telecom dues worth Rs 1.47 lakh crore. On October 24, the apex court had upheld the definition of AGR which serves as the basis for the calculation of the unpaid telecom fee and the spectrum usage charge.

It is learnt the review petition was on the interest, penalty and interest on penalty components, estimated to account for around 75 per cent of the amount owed to the government. Besides Airtel and Vodafone Idea, Tata Teleservices is understood to have filed a review petition.

In replies to separate questions in the Lok Sabha earlier, telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had said the operators owed the government Rs 92,642 crore in unpaid licence fees and Rs 55,054 crore in outstanding spectrum usage charges (SUC).

The liabilities arose after the apex court order on October 24 which held that non-telecom revenues have to be considered for calculating statutory dues. Observers, however, said the numbers were provisional and subject to revision.

Article 137 of the Constitution of India, 1950, provides that subject to provisions of any law and rules made under Article 145, the Supreme Court has the power to review any of its judgment. In legal parlance, review means a judicial re-examination of the case.

Under Supreme Court Rules, 1966 such a petition is to be filed within 30 days from the date of judgment and as far as practicable, it is to be circulated, without oral arguments, to the same bench which delivered the initial judgment.

Under Article 145(e), the Supreme Court is authorised to make rules as to the conditions subject to which the court may review any judgment. A provision for review has been laid down under the Section 114 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

Spokespersons for both Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea declined to make any comment. It is learnt the operators have made separate applications.

Dues count

For the quarter ended September 30, Bharti Airtel had provided Rs 16,815 crore towards licence fee dues — comprising principal of Rs 3,207 crore, interest of Rs 7,000 crore, penalty of Rs 2,492 crore and interest on penalty of Rs 4,116 crore.

Airtel has set aside Rs 11,635 crore on account of spectrum usage charges — comprising principal of Rs 2,957 crore, interest of Rs 5,219 crore, penalty of Rs 1,268 crore and interest on penalty of Rs 2,191 crore.

Airtel has maintained SUC is a charge related to the use of spectrum and should be levied only on AGR earned from wireless access subscribers or services.

Vodafone Idea had estimated a liability of Rs 27,610 crore related to license fee and Rs 16,540 crore on SUC up to September 30, 2019 — including interest, penalty and interest on penalty of Rs 33,010 crore.

The company also pointed out that since no spectrum is used for generating non-telecom income, it is evaluating the levy of SUC on such income.