Telecom dues: Curative petitions rarely admitted by SC, say analysts

The rules around curative petition are fairly tight as the petitioner has to establish that there was a genuine violation of principles of natural justice, say analysts

With just one week left for them to pay over Rs 88,600 crore in past dues, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea are left with last legal remedy of filing a curative petition but such petitions are rarely admitted by the Supreme Court, analysts said on Friday.

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed review petitions filed by telecom companies against its October 24, 2019 order that asked for inclusion of non-telecom revenues for calculating statutory dues such as license fee and spectrum usage charge.

Dues, which total to Rs 1.47 trillion for 15 telecom companies including Airtel and Vodafone Idea Ltd