SC agrees to list next week fresh pleas of telecom firms

The Supreme Court yesterday agreed to list next week the fresh pleas of telecom firms including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Tata Teleservices. They are seeking a fresh schedule of payment of statutory dues to the tune of 1.47 lakh crore rupees to the Department of Telecommunication.

A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde took note of submissions by telecoms' lawyers and said it will list the fresh pleas sometime in next week before the same bench which had heard the earlier petition in the high-stake matter. The telcos said they want an



open court hearing on their fresh pleas with regard to working out fresh schedule of payment of their dues.

The Chief Justice of India said that will be decided by the bench concerned. Earlier on 16th of January, a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra had dismissed review petitions of telecom firms seeking review of its earlier order asking them to pay 1.47 lakh crore rupees in statutory dues by 23rd of January. The bench observed that it did not find any justifiable reason to entertain them.