Telecom companies, which together owe Rs 44,000 crore, are trying to fight it out in court.
Highlights
- Six companies together owe Rs. 44,000 crore over which litigation is on
- The cases are being heard by TDSAT, High Courts and the Supreme Court
- CAG report also said the companies under-reported their revenue
On a day telecom operators won a legal battle in Supreme Court -- which decided they won't have to pay consumers for call drops -- Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told NDTV that they owe a huge amount of money to the government.
The companies, which together owe Rs 44,000 crore, are trying to fight it out in court.
"The dues include spectrum charges, licence fee, electro-magnetic radiation penalty, fines and testing fee," the minister said. "The past arrears amount to almost Rs 55,000 crore. Of this, around Rs 44,000 crore is currently under litigation."
Companies that figure in the list include Bharti Airtel, which owes the government Rs 11,235.5 crore, Vodafone with Rs 9,206 crore, Idea Cellular with Rs 5,435 crore, Tata Teleservices with Rs 3,472 crore, Reliance Communications with Rs 6,355 crore and Reliance Telecom Rs 494 crore.
Even state-owned BSNL and MTNL are in the list, with outstanding amounts of Rs 9,900 crore and Rs 4,091 crore.
Government sources say it will take time to even get close to recovering the dues, since the cases are being heard by various judicial forums, including the TDSAT, High Courts and the Supreme Court.
A recent report by the Comptroller and Auditor General or CAG tabled in Parliament said the government lost Rs 12,488 crore as six top telecom companies were found under-invoicing their gross revenue.
The report had also said the telecom companies had under reported their revenue between 2006 and 2010 by Rs 46,045.75 crore. The report may soon be taken up by the public accounts committee -- a parliamentary panel that scrutinises the auditor's reports on government schemes.
Regarding the issue, Mr Prasad said, "To find if there is any outstanding dues, a special audit of the operators' book will be ordered for a period of three years -- 2009-10 to 2010-11."