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Senior officials say that the DoT might take legal opinion on whether the department can ask bank guarantees (BGs) from the telcos against AGR dues.
DoT to Look to Recover AGR Dues
Senior officials said that BGs will protect the DoT against any delays and uncertainty around AGR-related payments. Notably, DoT already asks BGs against quarterly dues such as licence fees and spectrum usage charges.
An official said, "there are no BGs mentioned in the Supreme Court's AGR order and telcos have been directed to give just an undertaking". The source further added that DoT will seek clarity over the matter from the apex court.
Right now, if a telco misses its quarterly licence or spectrum-related dues, then the DoT encashes the BGs. The telcos also routinely replenish these BGs. However, telcos have previously refused to pay BGs against AGR dues. Therefore, it is natural that they would challenge any such move in the top court. In fact, last year, Vi had told the Supreme Court that it cannot provide any BGs against AGR dues. It also said that licences and its spectrum resources were the best form of security against AGR dues.
The fact that the industry is in no shape to provide a bank guarantee only makes the matter more complicated. The senior officials, however, want to be on the safe side. They want to ensure that they have taken action in case of future grilling by courts or national investigation agencies. A senior official said, "all government departments are bound by the General Financial Rules (GFR), issued by the finance ministry, and need to show that they have taken adequate steps to ensure contract enforceability and that government money isn’t lost, especially when we are dealing with disputed dues".
The official said that there will be tough questions to answer for the people in the DoT, should the CVC or the CAG come investigating.
There have been substantial payments, though. Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Tata Teleservices have so far paid over ₹30,000 Crore in total, towards AGR dues. However, DoT has pegged their dues at a total close to ₹1.2 lakh crore. On this, the telcos have sought recalculation of the dues from the SC.