Report that AG KK Venugopal not in favour of appealing against Vodafone PCA award totally incorrect: Finance Ministry clarifies

The Union Finance Ministry has clarified that a news report claiming that Attorney General for India KK Venugopal was not in favour of appealing against the Permanent Court of Arbitration's (PCA) award in the Vodafone tax case, is "totally incorrect and without any factual basis"..Business Standard had carried a story today stating that AG Venugopal had informally conveyed his opinion to the government that India should avoid filing an appeal against the arbitral award in the Vodafone matter passed last month..However, in a press release issued today, the Finance Ministry has stated,."A speculative news story being circulated in some section of media claiming that Attorney General has given opinion in favour of not appealing in the Vodafone Arbitration award is totally incorrect and without any factual basis. Award along with all options are under examination within the Ministry and further course of action will be decided based on such examination."Press release by Union Finance Ministry.In the award passed last month, the PCA had ruled in favour of Vodafone with respect to the Indian government's retrospective tax claim of approximately USD 5.5 billion together with penalty and interest (Approximately Rs. 40,000 crore in today's conversion rates) stemming from the company's acquisition of the Indian assets of Hutch back in 2007..While doing so, it noted that the Indian government's insistence on the Rs. 40,000 crore claim, despite the Supreme Court's 2012 judgment, was in breach of the terms of the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) signed between India and The Netherlands..The Tribunal has also directed the Indian government to pay Vodafone an excess of 4 million pounds, being 60% of the company's costs for legal representation and assistance..In 2012, the Supreme Court had held that the tax department had no jurisdiction to impose obligations on Vodafone for a transfer of shares of a foreign company between two non-residents.Thereafter, Parliament retrospective amendments to the Income Tax Act, which in effect rendered the 2012 Supreme Court judgment ineffective. Thus, Vodafone's tax liability, as well as penalties and interest on the same, were upheld.This prompted Vodafone to invoke the Netherlands-India BIT for wrongful actions of the Indian government.