Talking to reporters, he said the decision whether to send another notice to British telecom major will be taken by the concerned Assessing Officer in the back drop of amendment to the Income Tax Act, Supreme Court judgment in the Vodafone case and opinion of the Attorney General on the issue.
"Section 119 today is part of the law. We said that there is a judgment in the Supreme Court, there is Section 119 and there is opinion of the AG. And it is for the assessing officer (AO) to take all this into account before deciding the next step.
"Whether another notice is required or not, its for him to decide. But in the meanwhile, he will also take note of the fact that we have referred this question to the Shome Committee and the Shome Committee will give its report shortly," the Finance Minister said.
The Income Tax Department on October 22, 2010 passed an order determining a tax liability (including interest) of Rs 11,218 crore on Vodafone on acquisition of Hutchinson's stake in Hutch-Essar through a deal in Cayman Islands in 2007.
The Supreme Court, however, quashed the order in January this year. After the apex court's ruling, the Income Tax Act was amended with retrospective effect to bring into tax net such deals.
Section 119 of the Finance Act, 2012, seeks to validate the October 2010 order of the Income Tax Department. The Department had also passed an order imposing a penalty of Rs 7,900 crore on Vodafone in April, 2011.
The Parthasarathi Shome committee was set up by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in July to address concerns of foreign and domestic investors on GAAR. The panel has already submitted a draft report.