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Ministry of Finance

Government of India Condemns False Reporting on Cairn Legal Dispute

Dated: 23 MAY 2021

The Government of India has strongly condemned the false reporting in certain media by some vested interests claiming that the Government of India has purportedly asked state-owned banks to withdraw funds from foreign currency accounts abroad in anticipation of the potential seizure of such accounts with regard to the Cairn legal dispute.

Condemning all such source based reports as false, the Government of India said that these are totally incorrect reports which were not based on true facts. Certain vested parties appear to have orchestrated such misleading reporting, which often relies upon unnamed sources and presents a lopsided picture of factual and legal developments in the case.

Government of India is vigorously defending its case in this legal dispute. It is a fact that the Government has filed an application on March 22, 2021 to set aside the highly flawed December 2020 international arbitral award in The Hague Court of Appeal.

The Government has raised several arguments that warrant setting aside of the award including but not limited to: (i) the arbitral tribunal improperly exercised jurisdiction over a national tax dispute that the Republic of India never offered and/or agreed to arbitrate; (ii) the claims underlying the award are based on an abusive tax avoidance scheme that were a gross violation of Indian tax laws, thereby depriving Cairn’s alleged investments of any protection under the India-UK bilateral investment treaty; and (iii) the award improperly ratifies Cairn’s scheme to achieve Double Non-Taxation, which was designed to avoid paying taxes anywhere in the world, a significant public policy concern for governments worldwide. This proceeding is pending. The Government is committed to pursuing all legal avenues to defend its case in this dispute worldwide.

It is also stated that the CEO and the representatives of Cairns have approached the Government of India for discussions to resolve the matter. Constructive discussions have been held and the Government remains open for an amicable solution to the dispute within the country’s legal framework.

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RM/MV/KMN

(Release ID: 1721039)

HC stays the operation of faceless assessment order passed and as well as the penalty proceedings initiated u/s 274 read with 270A of the Act. HC considers assessee's submission that in reply of show cause notice w.r.t. draft assessment the submissions were filed and a hearing was requested. However, without considering his request for hearing, notice of demand for Rs.669.31 crores and penalty proceedings have been initiated.

Click here to read and download HC order

OFFICE OF THE COMPTROLLER AND AUDITOR GENERAL OF INDIA

9, DEEN DAYAL UPADHYAYA MARG, NEW DELHI – 110 002

Empanelment of Chartered Accountant firms/LLPs for the year 2021-2022

Online Applications are invited from Chartered Accountant firms/LLPs who desire to  be empanelled with the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for the year 2021-2022 for the purpose of appointment of auditors of Companies as per  Sections 139 (5) and 139(7) of the Companies Act 2013 and of Statutory Corporations/Autonomous Bodies as per the provisions of their respective Acts. The online application along with detailed instructions in this regard will be available on the website www.cag.gov.in from 1 January 2021 to 15 February 2021. The applicant  firms/LLPs will have to fill/update the data showing the status of their firm as on 1  January 2021. After filling/updating the data, the firms/LLPs will be required to generate online acknowledgement letter for the year. If the firms/LLPs fail to generate online acknowledgment letter, their application would not be considered for empanelment. The firms/LLPs will be required to submit a print out of the acknowledgement letter generated online and also hard copies of the documents in support of their online application in this office by 26 February 2021.

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Sr. Administrative Officer/CA-V