The Hindu Business Line : Tatas blame Birlas on Idea issue<br> Write to Telecom Dept again

The war of letters between the Tata Group and Aditya Birla Group over Idea Cellular continued today with the former shooting off another one to the Department of Telecom blaming the Birlas of breaching a waiver agreement between the two sides signed in 2004.

The letter said that the Birlas were agitating on an issue, for which it had already waived all its rights, in order to force an exit by the Tatas from Idea Cellular.

`Bid to force an exit'

"The very issues raised by way of the present complaint was previously raised between the shareholders and on December 11, 2004, the Birla group acting through Grasim Industries Ltd and Tata Industries Ltd (TIL) executed a waiver agreement wherein all claims whether in law, under the contract or in equity were given up. The present attempt is unabashedly an attempt to renege on the said agreement and force TIL to sell their shareholding under duress when the same is not permissible under law," said the Tata letter. Industry sources said Birlas wanted to buy Tatas stake in Idea Cellular at cheaper valuation and therefore was forcing the issue.

`It's between us'

The Aditya Birla Group had earlier asked the Department of Telecom to intervene in the dispute. The Birlas had said that the Tatas' equity holding in Idea Cellular was illegal since it violated the licence conditions for unified access licence operators. It sought a probe by the DoT on Tatas acquisition of AT&T Wireless stake in Idea Cellular through a Mauritius-based investment company.

The Tatas, however, said that the DoT should not intervene since it was dispute between two shareholders, which can be resolved between the two sides.

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