Courtroom Cables: Reliance Subsidiary Seeks to Unplug Haryana’s ROW Fee Hike

Reliance Projects and Property Management Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited, has approached the Supreme Court with a stay application on Haryana’s recent telecom infrastructure regulations. Reliance has challenged the new rules set out by the state government governing right of way (ROW) fees to deploy telecom infrastructure, claiming that the amended fee structure sets an unreasonable fee that threatens the delivery of digital connectivity in the state.

 

Sources indicate Reliance’s application details that Haryana’s regulations run contrary to central government guidelines aimed at standardizing and rationalizing ROW fees across states to facilitate timely deployment of telecom infrastructure. Reliance have appealed for the Supreme Court to intervene and restrain the application of the Haryana regulations until the disposition of the matter, arguing that the passage of the state regulations will cause delays to network infrastructure under construction and new projects in the planning stages.

 

Industry experts additionally suggest that the outcome of this case may form a test case for pending disputes in other states, as telecom operators across the country raise the objection of varying and often exorbitant local fees for infrastructure expansion. The matter is set to be heard by the Supreme Court in the near future.

 

Source: Business Standard