Reliance Infocomm approached the Delhi High Court on Tuesday seeking to restrain Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) from imposing Rs 255 crore penalty on it over the routing of international calls as local, and sought that the matter be referred to an arbitrator. |
The Delhi High Court today admitted the petition and commenced hearing. After hearing both the parties, Justice Vikramjit Sen reserved the order. |
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"This is a commercial dispute and there is a provision for arbitration under the interconnection agreement. We have approached the judiciary to get justice," a Reliance spokesperson told Business Standard. |
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Under the interconnection agreement, there is a provision that both parties can appoint arbitrators to settle commercial disputes. |
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When contacted, BSNL chairman and managing director, AK Sinha said, "We received a letter from Reliance for the appointment of arbitrator on Tuesday. And on the same day, they moved to court." MTNL officials declined to comment on the issue. |
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BSNL also informed the court that as per information received from its Chennai unit, Reliance still continues to tamper with the caller line identification to make incoming international calls look like local calls to avoid payment of access deficit charge. |
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BSNL had earlier sent a bill of about Rs 200 crore to the private telecom operator and had given time till November 5, after which it will disconnect the interconnection points (POIs). BSNL is still calculating the total dues and the figure rose to Rs 255 crore on November 2. |
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Even MTNL has sent Reliance a bill of about Rs 250 crore, alleging misrouting of calls in Delhi and Mumbai. MTNL is estimated to have lost Rs 126 crore revenue in Delhi alone. |
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BSNL telecom circles, in which the illegal routing of calls were reported, had sent their due statements to Reliance directly.Earlier, on October 14, Reliance Infocomm had made an interim payment of over Rs 60 crore, including Rs 58 crore payment through demand drafts at the BSNL headquarters to get the POIs restored. |
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The department of telecom had also issued a notice to Reliance pointing out that the private operator was indeed violating licence norms. The department is examining Reliance's reply to the show cause. |
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