Bharti claims Rs 490cr refund from JT Mobile

New Delhi, Dec 9: After paying up the Rs 490-crore disputed amount to clear the outstanding dues of the Punjab circle of JT Mobiles, the Bharti group has sought refund of the same by filing a claim before the government-appointed arbitrator. Following this, the department of telecommunication will also file a counter claim before the arbitrator within a fortnight, official sources said.

“Next hearing of the arbitrator is fixed on December 22 and the department will file the claim before that,” they told PTI.

When contacted Bharti chairman Sunil Mittal confirmed the filing of claim but refused to comment saying “it is a legal and sub-judice matter.”

The government had appointed Justice M Jagannadha Rao, a retired Supreme Court judge and sitting vice-chairman of the Law Commission as an arbitrator to settle the Rs 490-crore dispute on the ground that Bharti had acquired JT Mobile’s Punjab licence.

In September, Bharti had to pay the entire amount in cas has the DoT had refused to give any new licences to them unless they cleared all their past dues concerning any licence.

But the Cabinet had agreed to Bharti’s demand to refer the matter to a sole arbitrator saying that “the dispute on the payability of licence fee dues for the period between April 18, 1996, to March 10, 1998, including interest, will be referred to the arbitrator.”

The Mittals-promoted Bharti group had acquired eight new licences for cellular services and four licences for offering basic telecom services in various parts of the country, immediately after clearing the disputed dues.

— PTI