Reliance pays govt Rs 150 cr as penalty

Reliance Infocomm today paid the government the penalty of Rs 150 crore in accordance with the orders of the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), but said that "the payment had been made without accepting the findings of the tribunal."

The company also kept the option of approaching the Supreme Court open and said it would "explore all avenues to establish that the service provided has been in accordance with the licence conditions."

On Friday, the tribunal had dismissed the company's petition challenging the Rs 150-crore penalty imposed on it by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for "illegal routing of calls," and had directed Reliance to pay up within three days.

Reiterating its stance, that it had not violated any of the norms, the company in an official statement said: "There has been no impropriety on our part. We have full faith in the judicial process and are confident of vindicating our stand."

The payment has been made so that the issues in the dispute can be viewed dispassionately," Reliance Infocomm added.

The Tribunal had termed the company's act of routing international calls as local ones "unprincipled, unscrupulous and a total breach of licence conditions", and added that the "breach had put the security of the nation in jeopardy".

The government had initially thought of a CBI probe into the matter, but, the investigating agency took the view that its wing dealing with banking and securities fraud would not be able to take up the probe as it related to a private company.

The CBI, however is investigating any criminal law violation in re-routing of international calls as local ones.

It is scrutinising the papers submitted by the DoT in connection with the alleged scam involving hundreds of crores in re-routing of international calls in which Reliance Infocomm and other top private telecom operators are involved.

Highly-placed CBI sources said the papers included the findings of the DoT which had imposed the Rs 150 crore fine on Reliance.

The re-routing has not only caused a loss to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), it has also posed a potential threat to national security, the sources said and added that the agency would decide on filing an FIR against the telecom company only after the hearing in various petitions pending in courts was completed.