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New Delhi:
The telecom tribunal TDSAT has directed telecom service provider
Vodafone to pay Rs.25 crore penalty, 50 percent of what the
Department of Telecom (DoT) had earlier levied upon it for issuing
bulk SIM cards without proper verification.
"The petitioner (Vodafone) may, therefore, deposit a sum of Rs.25
crore, being 50 percent of the amount, within two weeks from date
subject to compliance of the aforementioned directions," said the
Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) in an
order dated Nov 17.
The TDSAT bench headed by chairman Justice S.B. Sinha also said
that it is difficult to accept the contention that when bulk
connections of more than 10,000 connections had been given in
favour of Matrix, the SIM cards could be rented out without the
knowledge of the petitioner.
"The question as to whether the stipulations contained in the
impugned order are correct or not, may have to be determined at
the time of final hearing," the order added.
Vodafone had entered into an agreement with telecom solutions
service provider Matrix Cellular in 2003 when it was Hutch and had
issued 10,000 SIM cards for its own use which were later in an
enquiry by Telecom Enforcement, Resource and Monitoring (TERM)
cell of the DoT discovered to have been rented out by the
operator.
The DoT, therefore, had on Oct 18, 2011 passed an order imposing
penalty of Rs.50 crore on the telecom operator.
TDSAT said that it is of the opinion that Vodafone has violated
the conditions of licence thus declining to deviate from the order
passed by the tribunal in the case of Bharti Airtel and Idea
Cellular.
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