The calculation of adjusted gross revenue of telecom operators is turning out to be a long drawn process as the Supreme Court deadline to pay the dues by March 17 nears.

The government has asked the operators to submit supporting documents on the self-assessed dues. The main affected parties are Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Tata Teleservices.

The move comes even as the ministry itself is working on the final adjusted gross revenue dues as it has detected a variation in accounting practices adopted by different circle offices.

Tata Teleservices has paid Rs 2,197 crore, which it claimed was the entire outstanding it believes to have arisen after the October ruling of the apex court for calculating dues. However, the DoT’s assessment is of about Rs 14,000 crore.

“The DoT has asked all private operators and public sector telecom companies to submit AGR self-assessment documents as soon as possible… The documents should justify their (telcos’) calculation of AGR,” official sources said. However, no deadline has been given to companies to submit the supporting documents.

The source equated the exercise to filing of income tax returns where the assessing authority examines the calculations/claims made. Moreover, the DoT wants to ensure that the court-mandated criteria is being followed by companies in computing their AGR dues, they added.

The court had last year upheld the government’s definition of AGR, on which it calculates levies on telecom operators. The order dealt a massive blow to the telecom industry, which argued that AGR should only include revenue from core telecom operations. Telecom operators now have to pay dues for the past 14 years, along with interest and fines.

GAIL dues

The DoT has sought Rs 7,608 crore in dues from GAIL for 2017-18 as the department appeared to be not pressing for immediate payment of Rs 1.83 lakh crore in past dues it had previously assessed from the state-owned gas utility. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) sent a notice to GAIL soon after the February 14 hearing in the Supreme Court on dues owned by telecom companies such as Airtel, Vodafone Idea, sources privy to the development said. The dues now being sought from GAIL include a penalty for late payment, they said.