Tax dues: HC asks collector to issue notices to Bharti, Vodafone

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed the Collector of Thane to issue fresh notices with regard to payment of non-agricultural taxes by tele-operators Bharti Airtel Ltd and Vodafone Essar Ltd.

The court asked the collector to conduct hearing of the petitioners on the said notices before issuing orders in the matter, senior counsel for Vodafone, Punit Anand told media. The order has to be furnished to the court within six weeks before issuing it to Vodafone and Airtel, he said.

Division bench of justices-Bilal Nazki and S S Shinde were hearing petitions filed by the two companies challenging the notices issued in March by the Thane Tahsildar to pay Rs one lakh per Cellular Base Stations (CBS) erected on roof-tops of residential buildings, for not paying non-agricultural tax since 2005.

The operators have about 90 such CBS each in Thane. "We had replied to the notice issued by the tahsildar in February 2005 regarding the said taxes asking them to give a justification for the payment but they failed to respond. After 25 months, they sent notices in March this year seeking payment without giving break up of assessment and penalty, just to meet their revenue target for financial year ending in March," said Anand.

On March 28, the court had allowed interim relief to Airtel and Vodafone and restrained Thane tahsildar from demolishing the CBS.

The tele-operators had then told the court that they were ready to pay the non-agricultural taxes and penalty, provided they were given proper notice and opportunity of hearing, to determine such liability.