Vodafone Not Giving Up - Fresh Writ in Bombay High Court

By Vijay Kumar

THE Vodafone battle continues. The Company filed another writ petition in the Bombay High Court on Friday challenging the Income Department's notice to them as agent of Hutchison from whom Vodafone purchased the 67 per cent stake to enter the Indian markets.

Vodafone said the Income Tax department cannot treat them as agent in default as the basic issue of jurisdiction is contested by them and the matter is currently under appeal in the Supreme Court and any action of this sort at this point of time will be premature on the part of the department.

Of course this seems to be a parallel issue – there are two cases. The latest writ is related to the case in which the Income Tax Department had asked Vodafone why it should not be treated as a representative assessee of Hutchison while the case pending in the Supreme Court is about Vodafone not having deducted TDS when it paid Hutchison.

Both the parties are not leaving any stone unturned in this internationally significant tax case.