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The Appellate Division on Sunday ordered Grameenphone to pay in three months Tk 2,000 crore out of Tk 12,579.95 crore claimed by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission as dues.
The court in its order also said that the High Court’s earlier stay on realisation of the audit claim would stand vacated if GP failed to make the payment in the stipulated period.
A seven-judge full bench chaired by chief justice Syed Mahmud Hossain issued the directive while disposing of a BTRC’s application for vacating the High Court’s stay on realisation of the audit claim.
BTRC lawyer Khandaker Reza-E-Raquib told reporters that there would be no legal bar for the telecom regulatory authority to taking any action against GP if it failed to pay the amount in the stipulated period.
‘The BTRC is now happy with the court’s directive,’ he said.
He said that the amount of Tk 2,000 crore set by the Appellate Division for the payment was not final settlement over the dues.
The BTRC demanded Tk 12,579.95 crore in audit claim but GP moved the district court and later the High Court for settling the dispute over the amount.
‘The final settlement over the amount will come from the courts after disposal of the cases,’ he said.
Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, also an Awami League lawmaker, appeared for GP.
‘We will wait for the written order of the court before we make any further comment,’ said GP in a statement.
It said, ‘We reaffirm our commitment to resolve the audit issue by continuing with the jointly committed transparent process towards an amicable resolution with the prime minister’s ICT adviser and relevant members of the government.’
As the existing stay order remains in force to restrain the BTRC from taking actions based on the ‘incorrect audit report’, GP looks forward to the BTRC to immediately comply with the valid injunction order and not to obstruct the telecom from proceeding with its planned network expansion and offer products and services to its customers, said GP.
GP at a hearing in the Appellate Division held on November 14 offered payment of Tk 200 crore while the BTRC demanded payment of fifty per cent of the audit claim.
The GP had submitted that the telecom company at a meeting with the finance ministry and the posts and telecommunications ministry on October 3 had agreed to pay Tk 200 crore to the BTRC on the condition that the regulator would lift all embargoes imposed on GP over the audit claim.
The BTRC moved the Appellate Division after the HC on October 17 issued the two-month injunction on realisation of the dues from GP following a petition filed by GP challenging the order issued by the first joint district judge’s court on August 28.
The first joint district judge’s court in its order had refused to grant the injunction on the realisation of the money.
On April 2, the BTRC served a demand notice on GP after an audit firm, a joint venture of Toha Khan Zaman and Co Chartered Accountants, calculated that GP had not paid Tk 12,579.95 crore to the BTRC and the National Board of Revenue since 1997.
On October 17, the telecom ministry approved a BTRC proposal to appoint administrators to GP and another mobile company, Robi, over the non-payment of audit claims.
(NA)
