DoT is turning into a legal minefield, saddled with staggering 2,800 cases

Lawyers representing govt point out that telcos, because of the large money they can save if they get a favourable judgement, prefer to fight till all legal options are exhausted

Believe it or not, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is saddled with a staggering 2,800 legal cases, of which 435 are before the Supreme Court. And the other 2,365 cases are in high courts.

This, many say, makes the DoT one among the top departments when it comes to litigation though there is no independent data to vouch for it. To make it simpler, on any working day, lawyers representing the DoT would be arguing as many as 11 cases relating to the department’s financial demands challenged by telcos, disputes on interpretations of notifications and the law, and appeals for reversing