Bom HC to hear Vodafone tax case on Jan 28

Vodafone International Holdings (VIH) said the Bombay High Court today heard a petition by the tax authorities on a writ petition filed by the company requesting the Court to postpone the matter, originally scheduled to be heard on December 18, 2007 to January 28, 2008.

The tax authorities stated that they were not ready to proceed. VIH's legal counsels did not oppose the request, a company statement said.

The company added the court has accordingly agreed to hear the matter on Jan 28, 2008, while the date to hear the writ filed by the Indian operation (Vodafone Essar) will be determined only thereafter.

The writ petition challenges the action proposed to be taken by the tax authorities to recover tax deducted at source (TDS) from Vodafone on the capital gains allegedly made by Hutchison on sale of shares of an overseas company to Vodafone.

The tax authorities also requested postponement of the hearing of the writ petition filed by the Indian company, Vodafone Essar (VEL), stating that it would be more appropriate to hear the VEL petition, only after the matter against VIH has been heard.

This is owing to the fact that if the matter against VIH is resolved in its favour then the matter against VEL, as a potential agent of VIH, would be of no consequence. Again, VIH did not oppose this request, the statement said, adding the court orders preventing the tax authorities from proceeding against both the entities are maintained until then.