Supreme Court orders marginal relief to Vodafone Idea

New Delhi : Supreme Court on Wednesday granted a marginal relief to Vodafone Idea as it directed the Income Tax department to refund Rs 733 crore out of the total claim of Rs 4,700 crore demanded by the company.

While the Supreme Court dismissed the company's appeal of a full refund, it asked the Income Tax department to process the aforementioned amount within four weeks.

"Insofar as AY 2014-15 is concerned, the final assessment order passed under Section 143(3) of the (Income Tax) Act indicates that the appellant (telecom firm) is entitled to refund of Rs 733 Crores; while for AY 2015-16 there is a demand of Rs.582 Crores," a bench comprising Justices U U Lalit and Vineet Saran said in the judgement.

"Except for the directions as indicated..., we see no merit in any of the contentions advanced by the appellant (Vodafone). This appeal is, therefore, dismissed without any order as to costs," the judgement said.

Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea has claimed that the Income Tax Department has not processed their tax refunds from 2014-15 to 2017-18.

The telecom company had earlier moved the Delhi High Court alleging that there was complete inaction on part of I-T department in processing its ITRs and in issuing an appropriate refund to it.