Telecom giant Vodafone, approached the Supreme Court against the recent decision of the Bombay High Court on tax issue. The I-T department had asked it to pay income tax of $1.7-billion over its acquisition of Hutchison. Bombay High Court had pulled the telecom company for suppressing facts and granted eight weeks to file any appeal.  

The bench of justices S Radhakrishnan and Anand Nirgude, in its ruling of 165 pages, said, "The petition totally lacks particulars as to the nature of agreement dated on February 11, 2007 and all other agreements preceding or following the same, entered into by Hutchison Telecommunications International (HTIL) and the petitioner (Vodafone International). The essential facts, supported by the necessary documents as proof of such facts, have been conveniently kept away from this court." 

The company brought 67% stake in Hutchison Essar from HTIL in February 2007 by paying $11.2 billion. I-T department had asked it to pay income tax in its show cause notice on September 19, 2007 and warned it to consider as "assessee in default". 

Tax expert, T P Ostwal said that the company will have to pay huge amount if the company loses the ongoing tax dispute in India. Maximum potential penalty of up to 300% can be imposed as per Indian law which can increase the amount substantially. He, however, hoped the department would not levy penalty beyond 100%.