DTH
Dish TV receives MIB notice for payment of Rs 4,164.05 crore
KOLKATA:The Indian ministry of information & broadcasting (MIB) and direct to home television provider Dish TV have been at loggerheads over this matter for sometime now. And the latter has informed the Bombay stock exchange (BSE) that the former has brought up its demand to pay up long disputed licence fees totalling Rs 4,164.5 crore once again. The amount includes interest and the demand from the MIB is that Dish TV pay it up within 15 days.
The Jawahar Goel headed firm says that the MIB has clarified that the amount is further subject to verification and audit and the outcome of various court cases pending before the TDSAT, the high court of Jammu and Kashmir and the supreme court.
“In this regard, we would like to inform that the ministry of information and broadcasting had issued a demand notice in the year 2014 for the licence fee pertaining from the date of issuance of DTH License till financial year 12 – 13. The said demand notice was challenged by the company before the TDSAT and the said demand has been stayed by the TDSAT, which stay continues to be in force,” Dish TV said in the regulatory filing with the BSE. .
Further, the company's petition is also pending before the Jammu and Kashmir high court where it has challenged inter alia the quantum / applicability of licence fee and imposition of interest. Similar writs are also pending before the apex court.
Dish TV informed that it is studying the communication to determine its next steps. The DTH licence fee matter has already been through several rounds of litigation, the final outcomes of which are yet to be argued and concluded, it added. It would update the stock exchanges on any material developments.
The notice has come at a time when the government has opened up 100 per cent foreign direct investment in DTH, extended the duration of licences given to operators.
DTH Operator
JC Flowers withdraws NCLT plea against Dish TV over EGM demand
Move eases pressure on DTH firm as long-running shareholder dispute cools
MUMBAI: In a breather for Dish TV India, JC Flowers Asset Reconstruction has withdrawn its petition before the National Company Law Tribunal seeking directions to convene an extraordinary general meeting.
The development was disclosed by Dish TV in a regulatory filing, confirming that the petitioner chose to withdraw the case during a hearing at the Mumbai bench of the tribunal. A detailed order from the bench is still awaited.
The petition, originally filed under Sections 98 to 100 of the Companies Act, 2013, sought to push for an extraordinary general meeting to address governance issues at the company. The case had its roots in a prolonged shareholder tussle dating back to 2021, when Yes Bank, then the largest shareholder, was at odds with the promoter group led by Subhash Chandra over board reconstitution.
JC Flowers had stepped into the picture as an assignee of Yes Bank’s stressed assets, effectively continuing the legal push initiated earlier. The withdrawal now signals a pause, if not a closure, to that chapter of dispute.
While the reasons behind the withdrawal have not been formally detailed, the move reduces immediate legal pressure on Dish TV, which has been navigating both operational and regulatory challenges in recent years.
For now, the focus shifts back to the company’s business fundamentals, even as the legal dust settles, at least temporarily, on one of its more closely watched shareholder battles.
