The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the pleas of telecom majors Vodafone, Airtel and Tata Teleservices seeking waiver of adjusted gross revenue dues with the bench comprising Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan calling the pleas “misconceived”.

“We are really shocked by these petitions which have come before us. It is not expected of a multinational company. We will dismiss it,” the bench told senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Vodafone, as reported by PTI.

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Further, the Supreme Court refused to come in the way of the government wanting to help the telecom companies.

Notably, Vodafone has sought a waiver of around Rs 30,000 crore towards interest, penalty, and interest on penalty components of its AGR dues.

Bharti Airtel also moved the court with a similar appeal, seeking concessions on what it described as an “equitable basis.” In its filing, Bharti Airtel, along with its subsidiary Bharti Hexacom, asked for a waiver amounting to ₹34,745 crore in interest and penalty-related dues.

“The present writ petition does not seek review of the judgment but only seeks waiver of rigors of payment of interest, penalty and interest of penalty under the Judgment,” Vodafone’s plea said.

The petitioner, therefore, sought appropriate directions to the Centre to “act fairly and in public interest” and not insist on the “payment of interest, penalty and interest on penalty on AGR dues”.

Right after the development, the shares of Vodafone Idea saw a sharp fall in trade. Vodafone Idea shares dropped 9.9% to ₹6.64 per share on the BSE in the intraday trade, following the development. At 1:30 PM, Vodafone Idea stock was trading over 8 per cent lower at ₹6.76 per share.