The Delhi High Court has dismissed the India government’s plea challenging Vodafone’s move to initiate two international arbitrations against India in connection with a tax demand of Rs 11,000 crore under a retrospective law of 2012.
Justice Manmohan on Monday hearing the case said that the India government can approach the UK arbitration tribunal under the India-United Kingdom Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement (BIPA) for its grievance, PTI reported.
Vodafone, a leading telecom operator, has initiated arbitration proceedings under the India-United Kingdom and India-Netherlands Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement in connection with the tax demand raised against the company in relation to its $11 billion deal to acquire the stake of Hutchison Telecom.
The telecom major initiated second arbitration under India-UK BIPA as well on January 24, 2017, while proceedings under the India-Netherlands BIPA were pending.
India government told the Delhi High Court that the Vodafone Group had abused the process of law by initiating two international arbitrations.
India government, challenging the second arbitration, said the two claims were based on the same cause of action. India said both arbitrations seek identical reliefs, but from two different tribunals constituted under two different investment treaties against the same host state.
