Supreme Court orders telcos to clear AGR dues by Mar 17, threatens contempt

The Supreme Court on Friday said the companies and the federal Department of Telecommunications (DoT) were liable for contempt of court

Supreme Court slammed mobile carriers on Friday for non-payment of billions of dollars in government dues and threatened them with contempt proceedings if they didn’t pay up by March 17.

The court, which had asked companies including Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel to pay 920 billion Indian rupees ($12.89 billion) in overdue levies and interest by Jan. 23, had rejected petitions seeking a review of its order last month.

"This is pure contempt, 100% contempt," judge Arun Mishra told lawyers for the companies and the government on Friday.

The trio of Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio, which is backed by Asia’s