Shares of five telecom companies fell by 0.13% to 4.04% at 14:11 IST on BSE after the Delhi High Court allowed the Comptroller and Auditor General to audit the accounts of private telecom companies.
Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (down 4.04%), Idea Cellular (down 2.15%), Reliance Communications (down 1.25%), Bharti Airtel (down 0.41%) and MTNL (down 0.13%), edged lower.
The S&P BSE Sensex was down 83.84 points, or 0.40% at 20,767.49.
The Delhi High Court today, 6 January 2014, upheld the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) order of an audit of private telecom companies and allowed the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to audit the accounts of the companies.
The telecom companies, who are being investigated in connection with the 2G spectrum scam or the arbitrary allocation of spectrum to private companies at throwaway prices, had argued that the government's auditor cannot examine private entities. The court today rejected that contention.
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The CAG had in 2010 sought the revenue details of the companies to examine whether they under-reported their revenues. The auditor said since the companies are in a revenue sharing arrangement with the government, they can be subjected to a state audit as well.
After the high court refused to stop the audit, the companies moved Supreme Court, which referred their case back to the high court.
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