 "Vodafone moves Delhi HC against Rs 1,050 cr penalty proposed by TRAI")
Vodafone Mobile Services Ltd. approached the Delhi High Court on Friday against an October 21 recommendation made by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for imposition of a fine of Rs 1,050 crore for violating terms and conditions regarding points of inter-connection among mobile service providers.
The TRAI recommendation to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for levy of Rs 50 crore penalty in each of the 21 circles comes on the backdrop of a complaint made by Reliance Jio Ltd. alleging Vodafone's refusal to comply with the conditions as prescribed. Following the complaint, the telecom company was issued a show cause notice for non-compliance on September 27 and asked to respond to it within 10 days.
Vodafone, however, alleges that Trai held a meeting in this regard even before the 10-day time period had expired in violation of the principles of natural justice and has sought a stay of the recommendation to the DoT on this ground.
The petition also mentions that the proposed penalty is not covered under the Quality of Service regulations, according to which a service provider can be fined a maximum of Rs 50,000 for failures to meet the service requirements.
In Friday's hearing, the company also informed the court that Reliance Jio's services were only announced on September 5-6 and payments for augmentation of interconnection links were only received thereafter, which allowed Vodafone a period of 90 days to provide the services. According to the telecom provider, 10,000 such connections had already been provided before the expiry of this period.
As such, Vodafone has termed the recommendation as unconstitutional and beyond the scope of the regulator's powers under the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997. "The telecom authority must act within the four corners of the statute. This is a recommendation which is prejudicial to the interests of the company," said the advocate appearing on behalf of Vodafone. According to the counsel, the recommendation has to be stayed and the Centre would have to take any action on an independent basis if required.
After hearing the submissions, Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva directed the TRAI counsel to take instructions and enquire how a meeting on the issue could have been conducted without receiving responses from the company and before the expiry of the time period provided in the show cause notice. The court has listed the matter for further hearing on December 21.