The Supreme Court has directed the Department of Telecom (DoT) not to encash Bharti Airtel's financial bank guarantees for 3 weeks in relation to nonpayment of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues of Videocon which comes to a total of Rs1,376 crores.

A bench headed by Justices L. Nageswara Rao declined to entertain Airtel's plea challenging the DoT demand, but it allowed the telecom firm to approach the appropriate forum against the government decision. Senior advocate Shyam Divan, representing Bharti Airtel, argued that his client received communication on August 17, saying the firm must make payment and if it fails to do so, then there is a possibility of invoking various bank guarantees.

He contended that Rs 18,000 crore dues have already been paid by the telecom company, according to the top court's order and there is another figure, which is attributed to Videocon.

"The liability is of Videocon... full liability of the seller," submitted Divan. Divan argued that by adding the dues of Videocon to the demand made from Airtel, the DoT has violated the apex court's order that AGR dues cannot be recalculated or reassessed. The top court said it will not interfere with its order, rather it will grant liberty to Airtel to move any other alternate forum to redress its grievances. Divan said that the alternate forum will be the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal.

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