The Supreme Court on Monday directed
Reliance Jio to pay Rs 70 crore to Tata Communications within two weeks.
In Reliance Jio’s case against Tata Communications over cable
landing station usage charges, the Supreme Court on Monday directed Reliance
Jio to pay Rs 70 crore to Tata within two weeks pending further orders in the
case.
A bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana, issued
the direction in an application filed by Reliance Jio against the Telecom
Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) order to pay Rs 147 crore to
Tata Telecom, as cable landing station usage charges.
Senior Advocate KV Vishwanathan appearing for Reliance Jio
submitted that a reply needs to be filed by the other side to their
application.
“You don’t want to pay money, you collect money from us but you
don’t want to pay,” the CJI remarked.
Vishwanathan submitted that according to their case, the other
side owes them money.
Senior Advocate Arvind Datar appearing for Tata Communications
submitted that “We are entitled to disconnect. This is not a case of financial
difficulty. They just bid Rs 50,000 crore for 5G spectrum.”
The matter was listed after the court was told by Senior Advocate
KV Vishwanathan that several users will be blocked if Tata goes through with
the suspension of the user licence due to non-payment of dues.
Advocate Arvind Datar had submitted that while Bharti Airtel was
paid the dues after it took an aggressive stance, Tata telecom wasn’t, as they
had given some time due to the Covid lockdown.
Reliance Jio had filed a telecom petition before the Appellate
Tribunal, challenging the demands raised by Tata Telecom and Bharti Airtel.
The demands were raised for payment of charges for a period
between Jan 1, 2013, and November 27, 2018. (interregnum between the effective
date of the 2012 Regulations, and the date of 2018 notification) on the basis
of Cable Landing Station - Reference lnter-connect Offer (`CLS-RIO') approved
by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) as per the 2007
regulations.
The charges included access facilitation charges (AFC),
co-location charges (CLC), and operation and maintenance charges.
After Jio’s plea was dismissed by the tribunal, Tata Telecom
issued a demand notice to Jio, demanding a sum of Rs 167,77,62,646 towards AFC
and CLC for the aforementioned period.
Tata had kept that notice in abeyance for the time being after consideration
of the prevalent circumstances on account of Covid 19.
It has been argued by Reliance Jio through its present application
that Tata Telecom has now suddenly awakened and addressed a notice dated July
19, 2022, calling upon Reliance Jio to make a payment towards the demand for
AFC and CLC for the said Interregnum. The payment has been sought within a
period of fifteen days, failing which, Tata Telecom threatened
disconnection/denial of services.
…………………