NEW DELHI: Canara Star has been asked by the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) to present a payment schedule to Star India to settle their long-pending dispute.
However, TDSAT chairman Justice Aftab Alam and members Kuldip Singh and B B Srivastava accepted the plea by Star India counsel Arjun Natarajan that this schedule should not come in the way of its requirement to furnish a guarantee.
Earlier on 4 February, the Bench had granted a week’s time to Canara Star represented by counsel Tushar Singh, to furnish a guarantee.
In terms of the earlier order of 14 January, the directors of Canara Star were present in person before TDSAT on 29 January.
In the hearing in third week of December, the Tribunal had asked Canara Star to intimate Star India whether it admits the SMS reports submitted by the broadcaster for the period 2014 to January 2015.
The common order by the Tribunal on three petitions including one by Star India against Canara Star claiming recovery dues of about Rs 3 crore pertaining to the MSO’s operations in the Digital Addressable System (DAS) area of Bangalore said this was subject to the two parties failing to arrive at a final settlement.
The directive had come after being informed by Canara Star counsel that the parties had failed to resolve the dispute, though Star India counsels Kunal Tandon and Arjun Natarajan had told the Tribunal that no attempts had been made by Canara Star to resolve the dispute.
The Tribunal had also asked Canara to produce its bank statements and materials to show payments made by it towards invoices raised by Star India based on Canara’s SMS reports.
Canara, which has allegedly sold off its business to another MSO called All Digital, was to produce its deed of transfer of establishment to All Digital which was made a party in the petition filed by Star India.
The other two petitions are by Canara Star challenging disconnection notices issues by Star India for analogue areas of Kumta and Bhatkal.
