SC notice to Tata Teleservices on TRAI's plea

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court issued notice to Tata Teleservices on a TRAI plea challenging a TDSAT order that had allowed the telecom company to utilise more than Rs 1.73 crore it had allegedly collected in excess from consumers to repay its acess deficit charges to BSNL.

A bench headed by Justice Altamas Kabir also restrained Tata Tele from withdrawing the amount, lying in an escrow account.

The court ordered that the amount "deposited in the separate account shall not be removed".

TRAI has challenged the TDSAT order that held that TTL was entitled to change any aspect of the tariff and need not return the excess amount collected from consumers that can be used for paying the ADC.

According to the regulator, TDSAT had set aside its directions that had asked TTL to refund unconditionally the entire excess amount of more than Rs 1.73 crore, kept in a separate account, collected from the subscribers.

TRAI senior counsel Harish Salve and Sanjay Kapur sought to restrain TTL from withdrawing the amount, which lie frozen in the escrow account, and clear off its dues to BSNL.

It alleged that TTL had increased tariff in clear violation of the six-months protection given to consumers as mandated by the tariff order.