SC to hear BTRC’s plea seeking stay on HC order

The Supreme Court today fixed October 24 for hearing the petition filed by Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission (BTRC) seeking a stay on the High Court order that issued an injunction on its move to realise Tk 12,580 crore from Grameenphone.

Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division Justice Md Nuruzzaman today sent the petition to the full bench of the apex court for its hearing on October 24.

Meanwhile, the HC bench of Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar rejected a petition filed by the Grameenphone seeking arbitration with the BTRC over the dues.  

On Thursday, the HC issued a two-month injunction on the BTRC's move to realise money it says Grameenphone owes the government.

The order came as a blow to the telecom regulator which was all set to appoint administrators at Grameenphone and Robi to run them and realise Tk 13,447 crore it claimed the carriers owed the government in "taxes, revenue shares, and late fees."

The HC bench of Justice AKM Abdul Hakim and Justice Fatima Nazib on Thursday issued the injunction against the BTRC move to realise nearly Tk 12,580 crore from Grameenphone, the carrier with the largest number of users in Bangladesh. 

Grameenphone maintains that the amount claimed by the BTRC is "disputed".

The HC bench fixed November 5 for hearing Grameenphone's appeal regarding the matter.

The government is ready to appoint the administrators as per the rules of the telecom act, he said. 

Earlier, Sharif Bhuiyan, a lawyer for Grameenphone, said the BTRC on April 2 sent a letter demanding Tk 12,579.95 crore from the carrier as "tax, revenue share, and late fees".

He said 27 items in the letter were illogical. 

Grameenphone then filed a case with a Dhaka court seeking a remedy. It asked the court to direct the BTRC not to realise the money and harass the carrier until the issue was resolved.

The court later rejected Grameenphone's plea.