TDSAT dismisses Reliance Info plea

TDSAT dismisses Reliance Info plea

Friday, March 4, 2005 (New Delhi):

Telecom major Reliance Infocomm today suffered a major setback after telecom tribunal TDSAT today ruled that the company was guilty of violating its licence agreement by re-routing international calls as domestic ones.

Reliance Infocomm will have to pay Rs 150 crore for violating its licence conditions.

The company said it would challenge the decision in the Supreme Court next week.

Tough words

But more than the money, what's likely to hurt it more are the tough words used by the TDSAT.

Rejecting the Reliance plea, the bench held," …It is clearly established that he petitioner deliberately changed the nature of the calls and the method Reliance Infocomm Ltd employed to camouflage an international call was certainly unprincipled and if we may say so unscrupulous. This was in total breach of the license conditions putting the security of the nation in jeopardy"

Although Reliance Infocomm sources admit the TDSAT judgement is a major setback, the company's lawyers had come prepared for the worst.

They have confirmed they will challenge the order in the Supreme Court. "We will take matter to Supreme Court at the earliest. We wanted sometime but court has declined to grant us time. So maybe on Monday we will approach the apex court," said Mukul Rohatgi, counsel, Reliance Infocomm.

Big victory

The ruling is a big victory for the IT and Communications Minister Dayanidhi Maran who's been saying he will act tough on those who break the rules.

Reliance Infocomm's bigger fight is with the two government-owned companies, MTNL and BSNL who claim the call re-routing robbed them of nearly Rs 4,500 crore since Reliance Infocomm didn't pay the access deficit charge levied on all international calls.

Legal experts say today's TDSAT order could have some impact on that case as well which is still being heard in the Delhi High Court.

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