New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday brushed aside technicalities related to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and observed that the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues of insolvent companies amount to Rs 45,000 crore and someone needs to pay this. Continuing the hearing for the second consecutive day, a bench led by Justice Arun Mishra observed, “How can we leave it (dues) like that… You may be entering into so many arrangements but finally someone will have to pay… We will decide it finally,” the bench observed, as counsel for State Bank of India and Reliance Jio Harish Salve presented arguments detailing that IBC provides for spectrum to be used as an asset and Jio does not need to pay the dues of Reliance Communications.
Making its stance clear, the bench said that the government needs to come out with a proposal for payment of the dues or else every company will go into liquidation and dues won’t be recovered. The observation of the bench was to the point that even functioning telecom operators like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have sought 20 years to clear their dues and the DoT has backed them, what happens if they go into liquidation during this period?
