S – For the Sovereign, not Supreme Court, Making Economic Policy

Just look at the Supreme Court’s order on the AGR (Adjusted Gross Revenue) penalties on telecom licensees. First the government frames an inherently ambiguous rule, which could include such non-operating income like rent and foreign exchange gains, in calculating the shareable operating revenue of a telco. When the Supreme Court upholds it, inflicting a Rs 1.50 lakh crore levy and threatening the viability of critical telcos, the government, instead of exercising its Sovereign duty to “clean up” policy mistakes, goes quiet.

Worse, when an unintended impact of nearly Rs 3 lakh crore on non-telcos, like oil/gas companies and cable operators holding telecom licenses is revealed, the government, instead of quickly dousing this egregious error, fiddles while New Delhi (not Rome) burns.