TDSAT adjourns DTH license fee case till 22 May

Rejoice came for the direct-to-home (DTH) operators as the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) on 6th May has adjourned the licence fee case till 22 May. 

Consequently, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) will not press for its demand of licence fee. As reported in Cablequest.org, the ministry had on 24 March issued notices to the six private DTH operators to fork out Rs 2,066 crore (Rs 20.66 billion) as licence fee within 15 days. 

The MIB had raised the licence fee demand based on Clause 3.1.1 of DTH licences. According to Clause 3.1.1, gross revenue shall be calculated without deduction of taxes and agency commission, on the basis of billing rates, net of discounts to advertisers. 

Irked by the MIB’s licence fee demand, the six DTH operators challenged the matter in the TDSAT on the ground that the matter is sub judice as there are cases pending in the Supreme Court and the TDSAT. 

The tribunal had offered interim relief to the operators and posted the matter for hearing on 6 May. It had also asked the MIB to file its reply in three weeks with the DTH operators getting an additional week to file rejoinders, if any. 

The ministry, however, filed its reply only on 2 May, leaving little time for the DTH players to file their rejoinders. Therefore, the DTH operators pleaded for more time and the matter was deferred to 22 May as the tribunal was also busy with other pending matters. 

It must be noted that Tata Sky, one of the petitioners in the case, recently paid Rs 383 crore (Rs 3.83 billion) as licence fee to the government even though the matter is sub judice.

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/national-news/item/4789-tdsat-adjourns-dth-license-fee-case-till-22-may.html
Source: http://cablequest.org/news/national-news/item/4789-tdsat-adjourns-dth-license-fee-case-till-22-may.html