The Telecom Disputes and Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has disposed of Star India and Dish TV’s petition against each other after the issues raised by Dish TV and Star India was taken care of making the petition infructuous.
Star India submitted that the arrears for the impugned disconnection notice had been liquidated by the payment of the last installment by the end of November 2019, but the payment for October 2019 could not be paid in full by 10.12.2019, as indicated in the last order.
It explained that there was an added exercise to calculate the number of incentives as per observations in the last order and therefore the balance amount payable by 10.12.2019, a post-dated cheque bearing the date 20.12.2019 for an amount of Rs. 18.50 crores was brought for giving it to the other side. The other side accepted the cheque on the assurance of the petitioner that it shall be honored when presented in due time.
With the arrears having been paid in installments, the petition became infructuous. Dish TV however raised two issues. The first was that the TDS by Star India for the period starting from April 2019 amounts to more than Rs. 26 crores and there is a statutory liability upon it to deposit that amount with the tax authorities. The tribunal noted that the liability upon the broadcaster is under the law and expects that Star India shall meet that legal obligation by doing the needful.
The other issue was some alleged discrepancies in subscription reports from the month of July 2019 onwards.
Disposing of the petition, TDSAT Chairperson Hon’ble Mr.Justice Shiva Kirti Singh noted,
“This again is a liability under the regulations which must be satisfied by the petitioner. Hence, if the petitioner has not submitted the subscriber report in terms of the Interconnect Regulations of 2017, since July 2019 onwards, that should be done expeditiously without any further delay.”
