DATA ACCESS INDIA LIMITED Vs. MAHANAGAR TELEPHONE NIGAM LIMITED

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN this Petition filed under Section 14(a)(i) of the Telecom Regulatory of INdia Act 1997 (for short the "Act"), the petitioner, an INternational Long Distance Operator (ILDO) is holder of licence of INternational Long Distance Service from the Department of Telecommunication in the Ministry of Communication, Government of INdia, seeks refund of Rs.8,69,24,457.36p from the Respondent, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) being the alleged excess amount charged by MTNL for the period October 23, 2002 to December 20, 2002 under an INterconnect Agreement entered by the petitioner with MTNL. This INterconnect Agreement is for interconnecting the network of the petitioner with the network of MTNL in the service areas of Delhi and Mumbai.

(2.) The petitioner here was granted licence by the Department of Telecommunications on March 27, 2002. This was under the provisions of the Indian Telegraph Act 1885. The Interconnect Agreement with the MTNL was entered into on July 19, 2002 as it is stated that petitioner was desirous of Interconnecting its network with the network of MTNL in the service areas of MTNL which is Delhi and Mumbai. Clause 11 of the Interconnect Agreement is as under:-

(3.) BEFORE we proceed further we may refer to two more clauses of the Interconnect Agreement and these are as follows:-