Vodafone tax case: Govt says yet to decide on whether to contest the Hague tribunal award

The government on Tuesday told the Delhi High Court it is yet to take a call on whether to challenge an international tribunal’s award in the high-profile Vodafone tax case that went in favour of the telecom major, as the “empowered committee of the Cabinet is yet to meet and decide on the issue.” Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma sought two weeks for “taking instructions” on the issue. After a brief review, Justice Rajiv Endlaw posted the matter for further hearing on December 8.

The government has taken this stand in the court, even as senior government functionaries continue to assert that India’s sovereign taxation rights are not subservient to bilateral investment treaties with other countries. Even Solicitor General Tushar Mehta has opined that an arbitral tribunal cannot render a law passed by a sovereign Parliament ineffective.