TDSAT tells Reliance Info to pay Rs 150 crore
By Our Corporate Bureau | 04 Mar 2005
New Delhi: The appellate telecom tribunal, TDSAT yesterday dismissed Reliance Infocomm''s petition challenging a penalty of Rs150 crore imposed on it by the government for diverting incoming international calls as local calls. Rejecting the Reliance plea that it did not violate any licencing norms and re-routing of calls was an internationally accepted practice, a three-member TDSAT Bench, headed by chairman justice D P Wadhwa, dismissed the petition saying that the breach has put the "security of the nation in jeopardy".
Immediately after the TDSAT judgement, Reliance Infocomm''s counsel Mukul Rohatgi, whose request for time was rejected by the Tribunal, said, "We will challenge the decision in the Supreme Court on Monday.
The bench comprising TDSAT members Vinod Vaish and D P Sehgal, said "Having regard to all the circumstances, including the subject matter of license, the performance of the license provisions which have been breached, the circumstances in which breach was committed and the consequences of the breach, putting the security of the nation in jeopardy, we do not find it a fit case to be interfered with. "Petition is dismissed with cost," it said.