News
Bombay High Court Sets Aside One Time Spectrum Charges Demand Against Bharti Airtel Limited
09 Jun 2026
- DMD Advocates
- Matter Reporting
The Hon’ble Bombay High Court has allowed the writ petition filed by Bharti Airtel Limited, challenging the levy of One Time Spectrum Charges (OTSC). The Writ Petition challenged the impugned decisions dated November 8, 2012, and December 28, 2012, as being arbitrary and illegal, on the ground that the same levied OTSC retrospectively on GSM spectrum already allocated to telecom service providers. The demand of over INR 8,500 Crores raised by the Union of India was sought to be set aside as illegal.
While allowing the Writ Petition, the Bombay High Court set aside the impugned orders and demand notices issued by the Union of India seeking recovery of OTSC. The Court has further directed that all bank guarantees furnished by the petitioners in connection with the disputed demands be returned. Any consequential actions taken pursuant to the impugned orders have also been quashed and set aside.
This ruling delivers major financial and operational relief to telecom operators by officially striking down the contested OTSC demand, bringing to a close a dispute that has been pending since 2013.
Bharti Airtel Limited was represented by Senior Advocates Harish Salve and Darius J. Khambata , along with DMD Advocates, led by Anuradha Dutt (Founder & Managing Partner, Delhi), Fereshte Sethna (Founder & Managing Partner, Mumbai), Suman Yadav (Partner), Nikhita Suri (Associate Partner), Gurudas Khurana (Associate), and Kaustubh Srivastava (Associate).
