Cairn Energy has to respond to India’s plea by Oct 20: US court

According to ET, a US court has asked Cairn Energy to respond to the Indian government’s request to dismiss the UK firm’s original lawsuit for implementation of the $1.2 billion arbitration decision.

In February, Cairn sought confirmation from the District of Columbia court of an arbitration judgement it had won against India in a retrospective tax lawsuit. In August, India requested with the court to halt the proceedings and dismiss Cairn’s case.

“Petitioners (Cairn) shall file their response to respondent’s motion to stay no later than September 10, 2021; respondent (India) shall file its reply in support of its motion to stay no later than October 1, 2021; petitioners shall file their response to respondent’s motion to dismiss no later than October 20, 2021; and respondent shall file its reply in support of its motion to dismiss no later than December 20, 2021,” Judge Richard J. Leon ordered on Wednesday.

According to the story, Cairn Energy, which won a $1.2 billion arbitration verdict against India, is attempting to settle the case and could meet with officials as early as Wednesday, according to sources familiar with the situation. According to the firm, the total sum is now $1.7 billion.

Cairn has filed petitions in many countries to enforce the decision, with the goal of seizing Indian assets such as houses and aeroplanes.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has stated that rules governing the abolition of retrospective tax demands against corporations like Cairn Energy Plc and Vodafone Plc will be drafted soon.

Parliament enacted a measure earlier this month to repeal a tax law that allowed the tax department to go back 50 years and levy capital gains taxes in cases where ownership had changed hands overseas but firm assets remained in India. The 2012 Act was utilised to levy a total of Rs 1.10 lakh crore in taxes on 17 corporations, including Vodafone, the largest telecom company in the world.

The bill states that the government will refund the retro tax to businesses if all legal challenges are dropped.