A six-year-old legal battle between the bankrupt Reliance Communications (RCom) and Swedish telecom equipment vendor Ericsson has resurfaced. The dispute was over Rs 550 crore payment made by RCom and its two subsidiaries to Ericsson in 2019. How telcos resolution professionals (RP) are now seeking to reclaim it. Reliance Communications VS Ericsson Dispute In 2013 RCom and its subsidiaries Reliance Telecom and Reliance Infratel entered into a contract with Ericsson to maintain their telecom networks. However after Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance started its Jio network in 2016 other small telecom players like RCom started getting weaker. By 2017 unpaid dues to Ericsson were almost around Rs 1500 crore so the Swedish company lodged an insolvency case against RCom. The case was heard before multiple legal forums like the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT). The NCLAT ordered RCom to settle the dues by December 15 2018 but when the payment deadline was missed Ericsson filed a contempt petition in the Supreme Court against Anil Ambani then chairman of RCom. Payment And Current Dispute In early 2019 RCom was already debt ridden with debt of Rs 46000 crore and filed for bankruptcy. As part of a court-directed settlement RCom paid Rs 458.77 crore to Ericsson (with an additional Rs 118 crore deposited earlier). Anil Ambani publicly thanked Mukesh and Nita Ambani for their financial help in making the payment. However RComs resolution professional Deloittes Anish Nanavaty argued that the payment to Ericsson constituted preferential treatment under insolvency laws. Deloitte stated that operational creditors like Ericsson should not be paid ahead of financial creditors like State Bank of India and China Development Bank. The RP filed a petition in the NCLT and claimed the payment gave Ericsson an unfair advantage over other creditors in the liquidation process. Ericsson’s Stand Ericsson has declined the demand for a refund and stated that the payment was made under a Supreme Court order under Article 142 of the Indian Constitution which allows the apex court to give justice through its rulings.  In 2019 Ericsson sought the dismissal of Deloittes petition with exemplary costs deeming it baseless and influenced by the Committee of Creditors comprising financial creditors. The dispute over preferential payment has now returned to the NCLT’s Mumbai bench and is scheduled for a hearing on Thursday.