Snehal Upadhyay-
Published on: August 2, 2021, at 10:55 AM
A division of the High Court in Singapore has decided to hear the Indian Government’s appeal against an International Arbitration Tribunal verdict that went in favour of the UK’s Vodafone Group in a ₹22,100 crore retrospective taxation dispute.
The Court has decided to hear this case in September.
It has come to the notice that the following case would be heard on 22nd September by the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC).
The SICC was established in the year 2015, it’s the division of the High Court and is also a part of the Apex Court of Singapore. It has a jurisdiction to hear and take action against the cases pertaining to the nature of transnational commercial disputes.
The following case was firstly filed in the Singapore Court of Appeal in December 2020, which was later transferred to the SICC.
India had challenged the verdict issued by the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague in September 2020 which stated that Vodafone can have protection against investigations initiated under an India-Netherlands treaty in which it asked India to cease such breaches of the international treaty.
The Tribunal had directed India to compensate Vodafone with 4.3 million along with ₹3,000 as legal costs, the government had the liability of a total amount of ₹85 crores, including ₹45 crores of tax levy that was asked to be refunded.
Vodafone had gained control over a stake in Indian telecom operator Hutchison Essar in 2007 in an $11.2-billion deal executed transoceanic. India’s tax department stated that Vodafone should have withheld tax on the deal and issued a notice seeking ₹11,218 crores, later augmented by ₹7,900 crores in penalties.
India’s stand is that the right to tax can’t be challenged under bilateral investment treaties and that a treaty cannot countermand the right of Parliament or the sovereign to tax.
The Indian counsel has stated that the verdict has questioned the very right of any nation to levy tax and hence the verdict must be challenged.
Read more: Vodafone’s award challenged by the Centre at a Singapore Court
