NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court<\/a> on Tuesday admitted an appeal by the Union government challenging a decision<\/a> of the Telecom Disputes Settlement<\/a> and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT<\/a>). The tribunal had stopped levying 8% of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) as licence fee from internet service providers<\/a> (ISPs) under the unified licence regime.
Appearing for the department of telecom (DoT<\/a>), solicitor general Tushar Mehta told a bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud that TDSAT misconstrued the change of regime as absence of a level playing field and arrived at the erroneous decision. He said those who had taken licence under the old regime, which had exempted levy on those providing internet service, continued to avail the benefit till the validity period of their licences, while new entrants under the unified licence regime were charged for revenue earned from providing inter net services.
Mehta said after the TDSAT decision stopping levy on ISPs, there were instances where these entities had moved the tribunal for refund of the licence fee paid till October 2019. “The tribunal’s judgment will cause a grave loss to the exchequer,” Mehta said.
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