The Supreme Court has held that spectrum allocated to telecom service providers (TSPs) and shown in their books of account as an “asset” cannot be subjected to proceedings under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.
“Merely because spectrum can be treated as an “asset” on the basis of certain attributes, such as possession and usage, lease and assignment, claim and liability or credit and debt, the entirety of the telecom sector cannot be brought under the sweep of IBC,” a bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Atul S Chandurkar said.
The court here dismissed a batch of civil appeals filed by the State Bank of India and others against corporate debtor M/s Aircel Group entities and RCom and RTL.
It examined the question whether…