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The Bombay High Court on Monday struck down the Union government’s one-time spectrum charge imposed on Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, ruling that the Centre did not have the power to retrospectively change the financial terms of telecom licences after they had been granted, Moneycontrol reported.

A division bench quashed the government’s 2012 decisions that imposed a one-time spectrum charge on holdings above 6.2 MHz starting from 2008.

The court also set aside the demand notices issued to the telecom companies and directed the government to return any bank guarantees the firms may have furnished.

The liabilities were estimated to be more than Rs 24,000 crore, The Indian Express reported.

Following the Supreme Court’s judgement in the 2G spectrum allocation case, the government had decided to levy a one-time charge on telecom firms for spectrum held beyond the prescribed thresholds, starting from July 2008.

It had argued that the companies were required to pay separately for spectrum allocation in addition to the usage charges.

Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea had challenged the government’s decision. They argued that neither the 1885 Indian Telegraph Act, nor their licence agreements allowed for such a retrospective levy, Moneycontrol reported.

They contended that they had already paid for the spectrum through the revenue-sharing framework introduced under the 1999 National Telecom Policy. They had also paid through enhanced revenue-share obligations...

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