New Delhi, Oct 27: In a relief for Vodafone Idea, the Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Centre to reconsider the issue of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues worth Rs 9,450 crore to ease the burden of the loss-making telecom company. The court reasoned that this matter falls in the Union’s policy domain.

The Supreme Court noted that the decision was made keeping in mind the interest of 20 crore consumers of the telecom company.

In a landmark 2019 verdict, the Supreme Court endorsed the Centre’s definition of AGR and allowed the Centre to collect dues worth Rs 92,000 crore which came as a huge setback for telecom majors such as Vodafone and Bharti Airtel.

Vodafone’s latest petition flagged a fresh AGR demand of Rs 9,450 crore raised by the Department of Telecommunications. The petition contended that a substantial portion of the demand pertained to the pre-2017 period, which had already been settled by the Supreme Court.

Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta told the court that “there is a huge change in circumstances” of the case because the government has infused equity in Vodafone.

“The government’s interest is public interest. There are 20 crore consumers. If this company is to suffer, it would lead to issues for consumers,” he said.

The Supreme Court noted in its order that the Centre is willing to examine the issue. “The government is also willing to reconsider and take an appropriate decision if the court permits. In the peculiar facts, we see no impediment in government reconsidering the issue. We clarify that this is a matter of policy, there is no reason as to why the Union should be prevented from doing so,” the apex court said.

AGR refers to a fee-sharing mechanism under which telecom operators must share a part of their revenue with the Centre as licensing fees and spectrum usage charges. There was a longstanding dispute between telecom companies and the Centre over the definition of AGR. While the telecom giants stressed that AGR should be based just on core services, the Centre argued it should also factor in non-telecom services provided by the telecom giants.

Mumbai: Mumbai Police has claimed to have arrested 6 Afghan nationals residing illegally in Mumbai city. The Crime Branch Unit 1 of Mumbai Police had received information that Afghan nationals were residing illegally here, on which Unit 1 and Unit 5 formed a joint team and conducted a raid in Fort, Dharavi-Kalaba area of ​​Mumbai and arrested 6 non-Afghan nationals, who have been identified as Mohammad Rasool Nishazia Khan (24), Mohammad Jafar Nabiullah (47), Mohammad Rasool Nishazia Khan (24), Akhtar Mohammad Jamaluddin (47), Ziaul Haq Ghousia Khan (47), Abdul Manan Khan (36) and Asad Shamshuddin Khan (36). Units 1 and 5 carried out the operation on technical grounds. These Afghan nationals had obtained visas in 2015, 2016, 2017 and settled in India. During this time, these Afghan nationals prepared fake documents and settled in India. All of them are in India. They had also hidden their identity with fake names. Their real names were Abdul Samad Kandahar, Muhammad Rasool Qamaruddin Kandahar, Amilullah Jhabul, Zia-ul-Haq Ahmed Kabul, Muhammad Ibrahim Ghaznavi Kabul, Asad Khan Kabul. All of them had prepared their fake documents to prepare Indian documents and then they prepared Indian documents. In this case, the Crime Branch has taken action against Afghans on a large scale and has arrested Afghan illegal residents. The police have registered a case against them and started investigation. This action has been carried out by Joint Police Commissioner Crime Lakshmi Gautam and DCP Raj Tilak Roshan on the instructions of Mumbai Police Commissioner Deven Bharti. A case of preparing requisite documents has been registered against them and a case has also been registered under the Passport Act.

Mumbai: Hours before Union Home Minister Amit Shah was set to lay the foundation stone for the new Maharashtra state headquarters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Mumbai’s Churchgate area, Shiv Sena UBT MP Sanjay Raut launched a scathing attack on the party, alleging large-scale irregularities in the land transfer process for the upcoming BJP office.

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Raut directly addressed Shah, writing, “Dear Mr Amit Shahji, Jai Maharashtra. Today, I am presenting information about what secret lies beneath the land of the BJP office, whose groundbreaking ceremony you are about to perform.” The Sena UBT leader also released a detailed letter addressed to Shah, claiming a ‘major scam’ in the allocation of the plot and alleging that administrative procedures were bypassed to facilitate the transfer in favour of the BJP.

According to Raut, the BJP took possession of the plot near Marine Lines Exide, previously owned by Eknath Realtors, within just 11 days of starting the process. He alleged that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), currently under administrative rule, acted with unusual haste on the matter, even though several other civic development files have been pending for months.

Raut stated that the land was originally owned by the Maharashtra State Cooperative Finance Corporation (MSCFC), which had leased 46 percent of it to Eknath Realtors. The realtor later applied for the remaining 54 percent and reportedly received rapid approval. Raut further alleged that Eknath Realtors paid a transfer premium of over Rs 21 crore, while the Mumbai Suburban (Reform) Committee approved the deal on May 22, 2025.

The BJP is said to have completed the property transfer in just 11 days, paying around Rs 3 crore in stamp duty. Raut also claimed that certain administrative officials colluded with Eknath Realtors to expedite the handover ‘under political pressure,’ with some transactions allegedly taking place at midnight.

Urging Amit Shah to take cognisance of the alleged irregularities, Raut said the episode raises serious questions about transparency and fairness. Meanwhile, the foundation stone-laying ceremony is set to proceed as planned, with Shah, CM Devendra Fadnavis and state BJP chief Ravindra Chavan in attendance.