To Nab The Dot Busters

ONE thousand is a very small number of subscribers for a telephone network. But if they all happen to be Members of Parliament whose amnesia gets the better of them when it's time to pay their mammoth phone bills, it's certainly no insignificant number.

When the Department of Telecommunication (DOT) mustered enough courage to disconnect errant MPs' telephones—the defaulters also included some ministers in Atal Behari Vajpayee's cabinet—there was, not surprisingly, a furore. Fortunately, the furore was muted. This time around, the politicians knew there was no escaping the fact that they were on the wrong side of the law.

DOT also has the authority to attach the defaulter's property and recover dues as land revenue, if a subscriber fails to clear his bills. Draconian, some would say, but surely called for when big names are involved. Name any party and its representatives have found a place in the list of defaulters. Here is a sample of names from across the political spectrum:

Raj Babbar (Samajwadi Party): Rs 7 lakh; Vijayaraje Scindia (BJP): Rs 8 lakh; Jaipal Reddy (Janata Dal): Rs 4.5 lakh; George Fernandes (Samata Party): Rs 4 lakh; Kalp-nath Rai (Independent): Rs 1.8 lakh; and R. Janarthanam (AIADMK): Rs 11 lakh. The list of Congress MPs and former MPs is long: A.B.A. Ghani Khan Chaudhary (Rs 42 lakh); Sunil Dutt (Rs 2 lakh); Jayanti Patnaik (Rs 3 lakh); Satish Sharma (Rs 1.5 lakh); Chinta Mohan (Rs 11 lakh); Mukul Wasnik (Rs 2 lakh).... The list is far too long for the party's comfort. All these bills are for calls made over and above the one lakh free calls permitted to Members of Parliament annually.

The list does not end there. Among those who've had to face the music from DOT have been Congressmen Jitendra Prasada, V.C. Shukla—both of who had to pay up— Oscar Fernandes, Tariq Anwar, Meira Kumar and R.K. Dhawan.

Such has not always been the experience of DOT officials. When the 11th Lok Sabha was dissolved last year, Lok Sabha secretary general S. Gopalan had ordered that the MPs' telephones be disconnected immediately as, following the dissolution of the House, they ceased to enjoy the privileges. The step was taken following the experience after the 10th Lok Sabha when the service to MPs was extended by three months following intervention by the then parliamentary affairs minister. "Everyone had a party, and when it came to the question of paying up, a number of them played truant with us," says a DOT official.

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), the public sector basic services operator in Delhi and Mumbai, disconnected the telephones of MPs who had not cleared their bills. However, the incumbent and former MPs who had to face the ignominy immediately moved heaven and earth, and the DOT top brass swung into action—new connections were allotted to the honourable MPs.

The rule book had been thrown out of the window at a convenient time. According to the rules, a new telephone connection can't be allotted to a person who hasn't cleared his earlier bills. Moreover, a person is defined as a defaulter if he fails to pay Rs 760—equivalent to rentals for two billing cycles—to the DOT for two months. How, then, were the telephones allotted to those defaulting MPs? No DOT official is willing to speak about it.

 "I would not like to comment on that as it's slightly controversial," is all that one senior DOT officer would say. Were their phones not disconnected as they were being treated as first among equals? "I agree with you, but we are working under some constraints," says the officer.

The second act of the drama began last month when MTNL disconnected the telephone of the Congress party headquarters, which had run up a bill of over Rs 70 lakh over the last few years. Not surprising, as five years—the time during which MTNL has been pursuing the matter—is a long period to wait for bills to be cleared.

 A period during which the arrears were only increasing. DOT officials say that despite regular bills being sent during this period, the Congress party chose to overlook the bills. So did the party members. That the largest number of defaulters are members of the Congress party is not insignificant.

As the events unfolded last month, the Congress claimed that it was being singled out. But the fact is that the other parties had either negligible or no out-standings. Member units of the Congress party—National Students Union of India and Indian Youth Congress—owe another Rs 24 lakh and the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee Rs 8 lakh. In comparison, Lok Dal has Rs 1.72 lakh as outstanding, Janata Party Rs 15,000 and the BJP Rs 7,000. While the controversy was brewing, communications minister Sus-hma Swaraj did her bit by declaring that the telephones of political parties be disconnected only after the minister had been informed. Needless to mention, the minister had failed do her homework.

All that is, however, expected to be history now. In a public interest petition, M.P. Vashi, a Bombay High Court lawyer, urged the court last year to order that the dues against some of the MPs be recovered by the DOT. Among the defaulters mentioned by Vashi were Venkat Krishna Reddy (Rs 11 lakh), Ram Sunder Das (Rs 11 lakh), M.M. Hashim (Rs 13 lakh), Ram Deo Ram (Rs 9 lakh) and M.S. Gohil (Rs 11 lakh). Following the petition—the hearing is scheduled for later this month—the top brass at Sanchar Bhavan (DOT headquarters) and senior MTNL officers have swung into action. A report on the names and details about defaulters is scheduled to be filed in the court.

VASHI'S petition raised a larger question of arrears that DOT, with revenues in the region of Rs 14,000 crore annually, has learnt to live with. However, nearly Rs 2,500 crore of that sum remains outstanding from companies and individuals. And it takes just Rs 10 crore to install a one-lakh line E-10B exchange. If the arrears could be wiped out, the fast-growing waiting list for telephones in urban areas could easily be met. Further, the DOT would be able to finance its commitment for village telephones. The growing outstanding is quite a commentary on how bills have not been collected against telephone connections, at a time when resources were scarce.

Uttar Pradesh—which has two telecom circles, UP (East) and UP (West)—leads the pack with Rs 200 crore with Maharashtra close behind. As in the case of politicians, a large number of companies and individuals who have not cleared their arrears continue to enjoy the services of one or more telephones.

The Bombay High Court has now made it clear that any telephone of errant MPs —current and former—working in any part of the country will have to be disconnected unless the bills are cleared. The court has also sought a "status report" on the number of parliamentarians against whose names bills are still to be cleared. Skeletons, as was expected when Vashi filed his petition, are now tumbling out of the cupboard.

Vashi, who had earlier filed petitions seeking orders from the court to have dues collected by the Maharashtra government from the MLAs, is certain that he will take the case to its logical conclusion. But with several defaulters simply not replying to court notices as yet, he certainly has a long road ahead of him.

While the default on behalf of all the MPs, current and former, is just over Rs 10 crore, it does raise the larger question of default by companies and individuals, which is several times higher than that of MPs. DOT officials say much of the problems before the department can be reduced if the government makes it mandatory for a person to provide his photograph with the application for a telephone connection. Something like the one required for opening a bank account.

 Or else, for Rs 3,000—the deposit required for a telephone connection—a person can get unlimited credit. As an official says: "Make calls worth any amount and since DOT does not know your face, disappear into thin air."