SC dismisses plea of Loop Telecom seeking refund of licence fee, damages

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a plea of Loop Telecom seeking a refund of Rs 1,454 crore paid for 2G license and also Rs 1,000 crore in damages for loss of reputation after its cancellation.

A bench of justices D Y Chandrachud and Vikram Nath held that the company, which was a beneficiary of an arbitrary policy of first-come-first-serve (FCFS) in the grant of 2G spectrum license, cannot take benefit of the trial court verdict acquitting the firm and its directors in a criminal case.

Loop Telecom Limited, in its plea, had sought a direction to the Department of Telecom (DoT) to refund Rs 1,454.94 crores paid by it as license fee for the grant of Unified Access Licences (UAS) in 21 service areas.

Its 21 licenses were among the 122 licenses quashed by the Supreme Court in 2012 on a batch of pleas including the one filed by NGO, Centre of Public Interest Litigation alleging corruption.