HC quashes ₹23,600 cr retrospective spectrum dues on Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea

The Bombay High Court on Monday quashed spectrum charges totalling roughly ₹23,600 crore levied on telecom companies Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi), ruling that the government could not retrospectively impose the charges for the period between 2008 and 2012.

A division bench of Justices Manish Pitale and Shreeram V Shirsat held that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) failed to identify any statutory or contractual provision that empowered it to impose the charge years after the spectrum had been allocated and paid for under existing licence agreements.