-The Hindu “Heart of policy is that government believes people should pay tax somewhere” Even as Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee faces flak from corporates at home and abroad on his budget proposal to tax Vodafone-type deals through retrospective amendment, World Bank president Robert Zoellick sought to side with the government saying India wanted the company to pay tax at some place. He also reasoned that investors must give some time to the government...
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Vodafone tax case: Supreme Court rejects petition seeking review of order
-The Economic Times The Supreme Court has declined to reconsider its ruling that the tax authorities had no jurisdiction to tax Vodafone's offshore acquisition of its Indian mobile unit, handing what could be a pyrrhic victory to the telecom major. The tax demand, government officials familiar with the case said, could be revived once the provisions in the Union Budget seeking to tax overseas deals are approved by Parliament later this...
More »Vodafone-like transactions should yield tax and the law must make that clear
-The Economic Times The Budget's retrospective clarification of what is meant by transfer of assets in India entailing a Capital Gains Tax payment is controversial but necessary and unavoidable. The Supreme Court ruled in favour of Vodafone and against the government in the company's disputation of a Capital Gains Tax claim in its acquisition of Hutch-Essar. This is on ground that might be legally firm but is quicksand for logic. The Court...
More »The Food’s Off The Table-Harsh Mander
It is disappointing that the government has not taken any steps to provide for the Food Security Bill, which is in Parliament, in this budget. A significant announcement on it was anticipated this year; that would have been the only way to see it roll out in 2012. Now, I think, the government must be bargaining for legal processes to take over, which we know will take some time, before...
More »Year of criticism, from the bench and against it by Krishnadas Rajagopal
Judicial activism was the key in many Supreme Court observations and judgments during 2011. 2011 CVC THOMAS: A three-judge bench led by CJI SH Kapadia declared “non est” — or nonexistent — the majority recommendation of a high-powered committee for P J Thomas as Central Vigilance Commissioner. The court ruled that the Prime Minister and the Home Minister’s recommendation amounted to “official arbitrariness”, coming in spite of the dissent of the third...
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