Can caesar decide what is ceasar’s

Can caesar decide what is ceasar’s

The plan to stagger telecom dues is welcome.

It is welcome that the government has, at long, agonising last, found a concrete measure to give relief to the telecom sector reeling from the government classifying various kinds of non-telecom revenue as shareable revenue, to a slice of which the government is entitled, under the scheme of collecting licence fees and spectrum usage charge as a percentage of the telecom company’s (telco) revenue. It has asked the Supreme Court for permission to let the telcos pay their dues over 20 years, instead of upfront. This is a suboptimal solution and offers only temporary respite. Ideally, the government should revise its claim downward and tell the court how much it wants to collect from its licensees is its own business.

It is a very strange situation in which the government finds itself. It is the party that is owed money. It is the licenser of telecom operations and can decide how it should collect its licence fees. Yet, it has to seek the Supreme Court’s indulgence to take and implement a decision that is entirely within the domain of the executive to take. It is as if Shylock has to beg Portia to be allowed to forgo the pound of flesh he is entitled to. The original sin of the government laying claim to kinds of revenue that are not derived from exercise of the telecom licence dates back to 2003. So, the first BJP-led NDA government, the two instalments of Congress-led UPA government and the second NDA government, all persisted with the irrational grab of non-telecom revenue, overruling the reasoned recommendations of the telecom regulator Trai and the telecom appellate body, TDSAT, that clearly defined what constitutes adjusted gross revenue (AGR) shareable with the government. All that is required is for the government to decide that, while the court has ruled it is entitled to its pound of flesh, it would forgo that carnal opportunity, because it does not want to shed blood.

Yet, the government finds itself a supplicant at the court, seeking its kind permission to salvage the telecom sector. It reflects transgression of the turfs of the executive and the judiciary.