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One Time non-refundable Entry Fee of Rs 1.1 crore has been paid by the LICENSEE prior to signing of this License agreement.‖ 3 On 2 February 2012, this Court by its judgment in CPIL (supra) declared that the policy of the Union government for allocation of 2G spectrum on a ―First Come First Serve‖ basis was illegal. As a consequence, the UASLs which were granted by the Union government were quashed. On 25 May 2012, the appellant instituted a petition5 before the TDSAT seeking, among other things, a refund of the Entry Fee of Rs 1454.94 crores, inclusive of interest. The appellant has stated that on 1 June 2012 it shut down its operations after porting out all its subscribers.

Once the Letters of Intent were issued to the appellant for twenty-one service areas, the appellant deposited the Entry Fee for each circle in accordance with the UASL Guidelines on 10 January 2008. The appellant became eligible for the issuance of UASLs for each of the twenty-one service areas only thereafter. The UASL agreements which were entered into between the Union Government and the appellant on 4 March 2008 expressly contemplated that the Entry Fee was a one-time non-refundable fee. The Entry Fee being non- refundable in nature, the appellant cannot now seek a refund; 

D        The claim for refund of Entry Fee


21       The nature of the Entry Fee has to be understood from the UASL Guidelines

which were issued by the DoT on 14 December 2005. Clause 619 of the Guidelines required each applicant seeking a UASL for a given service area to deposit a ―non- refundable entry fee‖ in accordance with Annexure 1, which elucidated the quantum of the fee which was payable for different service areas. Clause 1420 indicates that the Entry Fee was payable in addition to the annual licence fee which was payable for holding a UASL.

―6 The detail of non-refundable Entry fee, Category of service area, Financial bank guarantee, performance bank guarantee, Net worth and Paid up equity capital required under the Unified Access Services Licence for each service area is as per Annexure-I. The prescribed paid-up equity capital shall be maintained during currency of the licence.‖ ―14 In addition to the non refundable Entry fee described above, the Licensee shall also pay Licence fee annually @ 10/8/6% of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) for category A/B/C service areas respectively excluding spectrum charges.‖ PART D 22 Letters of Intent were issued to the appellant for providing unified access service to twenty-one service areas. The appellant deposited the circle wise Entry Fee, in terms of the UASL Guidelines, on 10 January 2008 in the amount of Rs 1454.94 crores. It is only upon the payment of this Entry Fee that the appellant became eligible to be issued UASLs in the twenty-one service areas. Clause 18.121 of the UASL agreement acknowledged the payment of a ―onetime non-refundable entry fee‖ prior to the signing of the agreement. Thus, the Entry Fee was a onetime non-refundable fee payable. According to the Union government, this was payable by an applicant for participating in the process of obtaining the UASL and was distinguishable from the licence fee under Clause 10.122, which was relatable to the actual operation of the licence.