NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed Department of Telecom’s (DoT) petition against a tribunal order which stated that liabilities of past dues related to spectrum usage charges (SUC) rested only with Reliance Communications (RCom) and not the buyer. The top Court’s verdict comes on the back of a bitter and lengthy tussle fought between the now bankrupt RCom, DoT and Reliance Jio.
RCom has agreed to sell its spectrum and other assets to Jio to reduce its total liability in 2017 but the deal could never take off as there was lack of consent from the government. Telecom department wanted Mukesh Ambani led-Jio to agree that it would be responsible for past liabilities of RCom when it buys spectrum from the Anil Ambani-led telco. Jio refused to accept the DoT’s terms.
After much legal proceeding, RCom in February decided to move into insolvency. The matter was contested in Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal and the tribunal on February 26 had said that the liability of past dues related to SUC of its 800 MHZ spectrum rested only RCom and not with the buyer. It had asked the government to give a no objection certificate to the spectrum sale.