SC
STAYS PROCEEDINGS ON RELIANCE INFO CASE
The Supreme Court
has stayed proceedings before the Delhi High Court on a petition
filed by Reliance Infocomm challenging BSNL's decision to
impose a penalty of Rs 182.7 crores for alleged rerouting
of international calls as local ones.
The Court also
issued notices to Reliance Infocomm and other respondents
on the petition of BSNL challenging the High Court order stating
that it will decide both the jurisdictional aspects and the
merit of the petition together.
BSNL had contended
that the issue pertaining to re-routing of calls fell within
the jurisdiction of the telecom dispute tribunal TDSAT and
hence, the petition of Reliance should be transferred to the
tribunal for adjudication.
However, Reliance
had said the High Court also had the jurisdiction to hear
its petition challenging BSNL's decision to levy the penalty
on it.
Reliance Infocomm,
headed by Mukesh Ambani, has so far paid Rs 294 crore to the
two public sector telecom companies, BSNL and MTNL, as against
the demand of Rs 504 crore for violation of Interconnect Usage
Charge Agreement.
