"For the judiciary to say that there is no jurisdiction, in my view, is erroneous. Supreme Court says that India has no jurisdiction.
"I say if the Foreign Investment Promotion Board can have jurisdiction, how can Income tax (Department) not have jurisdiction?," said Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Bishwajit Bhattacharyya, who demitted office today after a three-year tenure.
Bhattacharyya, who wrote a book on his experience as a ASG, said in his book "My Experience with the Office of ASG of India", that the unnecessary criticism and hue and cry raised was brought about by a judgement of the apex court which in my view was "erroneous".
The book was released by the former Chief Justice of India J S Verma at a function which was also attended among others by Justice G N Ray, former chairman of Press Council of India and B Sen, the doyen of India's Bar.
The apex court in its judgment had held that Vodafone's transaction with Hong Kong-based Hutchison Group was a "bonafide" FDI which fell outside the tax jurisdiction of the Indian authorities.
The three-judge bench wrote two separate judgments in the keenly watched high-profile corporate case and set aside the Bombay High Court verdict which had upheld the decision of the I-T dept to levy tax from Vodafone International Holdings.
Verma appreciated the work done by Bhattacharya, saying the Vodafone judgement blatantly ignores the larger five-judge bench decision in the McDowell case.
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He further said that ASG has rightly pointed out the apex court judgement on Vodafone, "which is the best forgotten judgement".
"I am glad that he took an effort to write about the case or even criticised it, when it is in debate," he said.