India can appeal till Dec end against Voda verdict: Finance Secy

Finance Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey, refusing to be drawn into discussion on former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s promise to honour awards in retrospective tax cases, said the Centre is examining all aspects to arrive at a decision on whether to appeal against the Voda award. “We are still examining various aspects and a decision would be taken in due course,” Pandey said.

Asked if there is a time limit on the decision to file an appeal, Pandey said, “All arbitration orders if at all have to be appealed, have a time limit of 90 days. So, we have time to decide, so will decide.” Jaitley as the Finance Minister of Modi-1.0 government on many occasions had stated the Centre will not raise any new demand using the retrospective tax legislation and will honour arbitration awards in cases where firms had challenged tax demands raised by the previous regime using the controversial retrospective tax legislation.

Vodafone had challenged before the arbitration tribunal India’s usage of a 2012 legislation.