Industry body COAI on Saturday asserted that the government has “vast powers and options” to address the sector’s issues, even in the light of the Supreme Court order on payment of statutory dues.
A day after the Supreme Court rapped the telecom department and companies over non-compliance of its order on payment of statutory dues, COAI Director General Rajan Mathews told PTI that it is up to individual members (companies) to see how they would interpret and comply with the SC order.
“We continue to believe that government has vast powers and options to address the issues of the sector even in the light of the SC order,” Mathews said. Meanwhile, after UP (West) and Rajasthan, the DoT’s field offices in circles of Gujarat, UP (East), West Bengal and others zones have directed telecom companies to pay up outstanding dues “immediately” failing which action would be initiated based on provisions of licence agreement “without any further notice”.
A notice issued by UP (East) circle to telecom operators said the office of Controller of Communication Accounts will remain open on Saturday to facilitate payment of statutory dues by the companies.