Supreme Court of India dismissed Union Government’s Petition in Vodafone Tax Case

The Supreme Court of India on 20 March 2012 rejected the plea of the union government in which it had sought a review of supreme court 20 January 2012 ruling that the Income Tax Department did not have the jurisdiction to impose 11000 crore rupees in tax on the overseas deal between Vodafone International Holdings and Hutchison Group.

The Supreme Court bench comprised of Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia, and justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar dismissed the petition filed by the Union government on 17 February 2012 as the court observed that the petition lacks merit in it.

As per the Supreme Court rules, review petitions in normal circumstances are decided in chambers. In certain cases, the court may issue notice and hear them in open court.

The union government in its review petition had argued that the apex court judgment suffered from an error apparent on the face of the record and failed to consider its case.

The Supreme Court of India in its on 20 January 2012 ruling held that Vodafone is not liable to any tax on its 11.2 billion dollar acquisition of Hutchison’s Indian telecom assets in 2007. The income tax department had raised a demand of 11297 crore on the deal. The Bombay High Court later in its verdict favoured the IT department. Vodafone subsequently moved to the Supreme Court against the high court ruling.