The Bombay High Court today ruled that it would hear the Vodafone tax issue continuously from March 10, 2008.This is after the counsels for Vodafone and the Income Tax (I-T) department assured the court that they would complete the procedures within 10 working hours starting March 10.The I-T department had issued a show-cause notice to Vodafone-Essar in which it sought to know why capital gains tax on the $11.1 billion deal should not be levied on the company.Vodafone-Essar, on its part, filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court challenging the right of the tax authorities to levy a capital gains tax.The first hearing on the issue scheduled for September 27 last year was adjourned to December last year. The case was adjourned again in December last year.In an earlier report it had been mentioned that the British telecom major Vodafone had passed the buck on payment of tax of over $2 billion to Hutchison Telecommunications International (HTIL), the former joint-venture partner of the Essar group, stating that the taxes had had to be paid by the seller.
