TDSAT reserves order on Reliance appeal

Telecom Dispute Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has reserved judgement on an appeal by Reliance Infocomm challenging the penalty of Rs 150 crore imposed by the government for illegal routing of international calls.

Arguments concluded today with Reliance counsel Harish Salve contesting the government's reply that the company violated licence agreements, saying, "this is not a licensing issue. This is a contractual dispute between Reliance Infocomm and BSBL, and the government should not have interfered."

The government will make a written submission within two days to Reliance Infocomm's rejoinder.

Salve said that if the licensor was going to decide on contractual disputes, there was no need for TDSAT. "Contractual commercial agreements can never be licensing issues. Imposing a penalty on Reliance Infocomm for violating licence agreement is complete abuse of power," Salve said.

For a violation to invite penalty, it must have a bearing on licencing and the present case has no bearing on licensing, he added.

Countering the government argument that the home country direct (HCD) service was part of the international long distance (ILD) licence, he wondered how MTNL able to sell the service when it did not have an ILD licence of its own.

Reliance has been arguing that HCD was part of the unified access service licence.