Pay 20% of dues for using power poles, HC to cable TV operators

Panaji: The high court of Bombay at Goa on Thursday directed members of the Goa Cable TV Networking and Service Providers Association to deposit 20% of the arrears payable to govt for utilising the electricity department’s infrastructure to hang their cables.
The association told the high court that it has around 80 members. The association was asked to get its members to pay 20% of each of their arrears for the period between 2021 and Dec 2024.
The high court asked them to deposit the amount with govt. State govt had pressed for partial payment from the service providers to process their applications.
The high court also asked the association to submit details at the next hearing, including the number and names of all its members, how many poles each of them used, how much they initially paid the electricity department along with receipts, and how much they presently owe govt.
No permissions were taken by service providers between 2021 and 2024 to hang their cables on the electricity department’s poles, advocate general Devidas Pangam told reporters after the hearing.
The service providers neither paid rent to the department nor applied for any permissions to use the electricity department’s poles for these years, Pangam said.
He said the rules require that they take permissions and pay money to govt, both of which they did not do.
The service providers have to pay Rs 300 per month per pole used to govt, Pangam said.