While rejecting the Bharti Airtel’ plea related to Rs. 50 crore fine against TDSAT, the Delhi High Court asked the telco to pursue its case before the tribunal.  TDSAT had asked it to first pay half the Rs 50 crore fine imposed on it by DoT before the hearing.
     
The Department of Telecom (DoT) had imposed Rs 50 crore fine on the country's largest telecom operator for issuing SIM cards in bulk to two firms for distribution among foreigners and NRIs, allegedly violating security conditions in the licence agreement.
     
As Bharti Airtel moved Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) early this month against the DoT order, the tribunal asked it to first pay half of the penalty for being heard.
     
Bharti Airtel then approached the Delhi High Court, which too rejected its plea with the bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi asking it to pursue the case before the tribunal itself.
     
Former Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam, appearing for the private operator, contended that the tribunal was not right in directing it to pay half the fine, as it had noted in the order that DoT had not given any reason for imposing the penalty.
     
Bharti Airtel also contended that it had only issued SIM cards/connections in bulk, and it had already terminated the rental agreements or contracts for them 19 months before the demand of penalty by DoT.

The tribunal's interim order had come on a petition by Bharti Airtel challenging the penalty demanded by DoT.
     
The DoT had imposed the penalty on the telecom operator on September 19 after it found that the company had issued 1,847 bulk mobile connections to Falcon Business Resource Pvt Ltd and 741 to Galaxy Rent, violating the terms and conditions of its licence agreement.
     
During the proceedings, DoT had submitted before the tribunal that by issuing SIM cards to the companies, which later transferred them to NRIs and foreigners, Airtel breached the security conditions of the licences.
     
It further submitted that the government suffered a loss in Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR).
     
Bharti Airtel, however, opposed the DoT charge, saying that the right AGR was paid by the company to the government.
     
The company had further said that the two firm selling SIM cards were actually franchisees and were distributing them on behalf of Airtel.